Demographic and clinico-pathological characteristics in patients with triple-negative and non-triple-negative breast cancer

We investigate retrospectively the demographic and clinico-pathological characteristics of patients with triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) compared to those with non-TNBC. Patients with breast cancer diagnosed from 1981 to 2008 in our clinic were retrospectively analyzed. Patient demographics including survival data and tumor characteristics were obtained from charts. A total of 795 patients were assessed in the study, including 140 patients (17.6%) with TNBC and 655 patients (82.4%) with non-TNBC. Patients with non-TNBC were further classified into 3 groups according to hormone receptor (HR) and HER-2 status. Median age was 49 (range 38–60 years) and similar between patients with TNBC and non-TNBC. Patients with TNBC had an increased likelihood of a higher histological grade III compared with HR(+) HER-2(−) subgroup (P > 0.001) and lower stage compared with HR(+)/HER2(+) and HR(−)/HER2(+) subgroups (P < 0.001 and P = 0.002, respectively). In patients with TNBC, the disease-free survival (DFS) rate was 66% at 5 years. In subgroup analysis of non-TNBCs, 5-year-DFS rates of the patients in HR(+)/HER2(−), HR(+)/HER2(+) and HR(−)/HER2(+) subgroups were 59, 66, and 57%, respectively. There was no significant difference between the TNBC and non-TNBC subgroups (P = 0.238). In multivariate analysis, nodal involvement (RR = 2.8, 95% CI: 0.99–8.3, P = 0.052) and the presence of lymphovascular invasion (RR = 3.2, 95% CI: 1.1–9.2, P = 0.029) were significantly associated with increased recurrence risk in patients with TNBC. Although there are differences in patient and tumor features, patients with TNBC had similar clinical course with those with non-TNBC.