Survival analysis in patients with invasive lobular cancer and invasive ductal cancer according to hormone receptor expression status in the Korean population

• Published in: PloS one 2022-01, Vol.17 (1), p.e0262709-e0262709
• Main Authors: Kwon, Douk, Ko, Byung Kyun, Jung, Seung Pil, Kim, Hong-Kyu, Kim, Eun-Kyu, Jung, Yong Sik, Youn, Hyun Jo, Lee, Sae Byul
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Adult; Biology and Life Sciences; Breast - metabolism; Breast - pathology; Breast cancer; Breast Neoplasms - metabolism; Breast Neoplasms - mortality; Breast Neoplasms - pathology; Carcinoma, Ductal, Breast - metabolism; Carcinoma, Ductal, Breast - mortality; Carcinoma, Ductal, Breast - pathology; Carcinoma, Lobular - metabolism; Carcinoma, Lobular - mortality; Carcinoma, Lobular - pathology; Confidence intervals; Epidermal growth factor; Estrogen receptors; Estrogens; Female; Growth factors; Humans; Invasiveness; Medical diagnosis; Medical schools; Medicine; Medicine and Health Sciences; Middle Aged; Neoplasm Staging; Patients; Population; Progesterone; Prognosis; Receptors; Receptors, Estrogen - metabolism; Receptors, Progesterone - metabolism; Republic of Korea - epidemiology; Statistical analysis; Subgroups; Surgery; Survival; Survival Analysis; Survival Rate
• ISSN: 1932-6203; 1932-6203
• DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0262709

We compared the clinicopathological characteristics and survival outcomes of invasive lobular carcinoma (ILC) cases with those of invasive ductal carcinoma (IDC) cases in various hormone receptor expression subgroups. We compared clinicopathological characteristics, overall survival (OS), and breast cancer-specific survival (BCSS) between patients with IDC (n = 95,486) and ILC (n = 3,023). In addition, we analyzed the effects of different hormone receptor expression subgroups on survival. The ILC group had more instances of advanced stage and hormonal receptor positivity than did the IDC group (p < 0.001), but the IDC group had higher histological grade and nuclear grade, as well as higher frequency of human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 and Ki67 expression than did the ILC group (p < 0.001). The OS and BCSS were not significantly different between the IDC and ILC groups. The 5-year OS of the IDC group was 88.8%, while that of the ILC group was 90.6% (p = 0.113). The 5-year BCSS of the IDC group was 94.8%, while that of the ILC group was 95.0% (p = 0.552). When analyzing each hormone receptor expression subgroup, there were no significant differences in survival between the IDC and ILC groups. However, the estrogen receptor (ER) negative/progesterone receptor (PR) negative subgroup showed differences in survival between the IDC and ILC groups. Moreover, the hazard ratio of ILC in the ER negative/PR negative subgroup was 1.345 (95% confidence interval: 1.012-1.788; p = 0.041). Hormone receptor expression should be considered when determining prognosis and treatment regimen for IDC and ILC. Researchers should further study the ER negative/PR negative population to identify treatment and prognostic models that will facilitate the development of individualized therapy for these patients, which is needed for good outcomes.