Early Ki67 change predicts prognosis and supports response-adapted therapy in breast cancer treated with neoadjuvant chemotherapy.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Early prediction of response to neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NACT) in breast cancer is critical for optimizing treatment strategies and improving outcomes. This study assessed the prognostic value of early Ki67 change (ΔKi67 %) via on-treatment core needle biopsy (CNB) in stratifying event-free survival (EFS) and informing potential treatment escalation.

Methods

In this prospective cohort study, 1388 breast cancer patients treated from 2013 to 2021 were randomly divided into training and validation sets (7:3 ratio). ΔKi67 % was calculated as the percentage change from baseline to on-treatment CNB after a median of two NACT cycles. K-means clustering determined an optimal 40 % cutoff classifying patients as poor (≤40 %) or good responders (>40 %). EFS was analyzed usi

SUBMITTER: Zhang Y 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12666795 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature