Folate receptor alpha expression associates with improved disease-free survival in triple negative breast cancer patients.

ABSTRACT: Triple negative breast cancer (TNBC) comprises 15-20% of all invasive breast cancer and is associated with a poor prognosis. As therapy options are limited for this subtype, there is a significant need to identify new targeted approaches for TNBC patient management. The expression of the folate receptor alpha (FR?) is significantly increased in patients with TNBC and is therefore a potential biomarker and therapeutic target. We optimized and validated a FR? immunohistochemistry method, specific to TNBC, to measure FR? expression in a centrally confirmed cohort of 384 patients with TNBC in order to determine if expression of the protein is associated with invasive disease-free survival (IDFS) and overall survival (OS). The FR? IHC demonstrated exceptional performance characteristics with low intra- and interassay variability as well as minimal lot-to-lot variation. FR? expression, which varied widely from sample to sample, was detected in 274 (71%) of the TNBC lesions. In a multivariable model adjusted for baseline characteristics, FR? expression was associated with improved IDFS (HR?=?0.63, p?=?0.01) but not with OS. The results demonstrate the potential of targeting the FR? in the majority of TNBC patients and suggest that variable expression may point to a need to stratify on FR? expression in clinical studies.

SUBMITTER: Norton N 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7000381 | biostudies-literature | 2020

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature