Table 3.
Association between pathological response and baseline clinicopathological features.
| Pathological response |
All |
p valueª |
|||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Complete pCR (RCB 0) |
Partial (RCB I, II and III) |
||||||
| n | % | n | % | n | % | ||
| Variable | 24 | (42) | 34 | (58) | 58 | (100) | NA |
| Serum menopausal status | |||||||
| Premenopausal | 5 | (21) | 15 | (44) | 20 | (34) | 0.119 |
| Postmenopausal | 19 | (79) | 19 | (56) | 38 | (66) | |
| Nodal, clinical status | |||||||
| N0 | 14 | (58) | 14 | (41) | 28 | (48) | 0.198 |
| N1 + N2 | 10 | (42) | 20 | (59) | 30 | (52) | |
| Clinical stage* | |||||||
| IIA + IIB | 15 | (63) | 17 | (50) | 32 | (55) | 0.346 |
| IIIA + IIIB | 9 | (37) | 17 | (50) | 26 | (45) | |
| Tumor grade† | |||||||
| 2 | 13 | (54) | 18 | (53) | 31 | (53) | 0.927 |
| 3 | 11 | (46) | 16 | (47) | 27 | (47) | |
| Hormone receptor§ | |||||||
| ER or PgR positive | 17 | (71) | 25 | (74) | 42 | (72) | 0.821 |
| ER and PgR negative | 7 | (29) | 9 | (26) | 16 | (28) | |
| Lymphovascular invasion | |||||||
| Present | 1 | (4) | 2 | (6) | 3 | (5) | 1.000 |
| Absent | 23 | (96) | 32 | (94) | 55 | (95) | |
| Necrosis | |||||||
| Present | 5 | (21) | 6 | (18) | 11 | (19) | 0.760 |
| Absent | 19 | (79) | 28 | (82) | 47 | (81) | |
| Lymphocytic infiltrate | |||||||
| Present | 15 | (63) | 19 | (56) | 34 | (59) | 0.614 |
| Absent | 9 | (37) | 15 | (44) | 24 | (41) | |
| Ki67 labeling index§ | |||||||
| <20 | 0 | (0) | 5 | (15) | 5 | (9) | 0.070 |
| ⩾20 | 24 | (100) | 29 | (85) | 53 | (91) | |
| p53 (n = 56) ‡, § | |||||||
| <10 | 7 | (30) | 16 | (48) | 23 | (41) | 0.177 |
| ⩾10 | 16 | (70) | 17 | (52) | 33 | (59) | |
| β-catenin (n = 56)‡, § | |||||||
| Plasma membrane positive | 17 | (71) | 30 | (94) | 47 | (84) | 0.030 |
| Nuclei/cytoplasm positive | 7 | (29) | 2 | (6) | 9 | (16) | |
| E-cadherin (n = 56)‡, § | |||||||
| Positive | 23 | (96) | 33 | (97) | 56 | (100) | NA. |
| Negative | 0 | (0) | 0 | (0) | 0 | (0) | |
ER, estrogen receptor; PgR, progesterone receptor; pCR, pathological complete response; RCB, residual cancer burden.
*
TNM classification according to the International Union Against Cancer, †Grading according to Bloom–Richardson, §Immunohistochemistry was performed according to local practice.
‡
n = 56 because the material was consumed in two patients.