research article Clinical efficacy of local targeted chemotherapy for triple-negative breast cancer Jinsong He, Xianming Wang, Hong Guan, Weicai Chen, Ming Wang, Huisheng Wu, Zun Wang, Ruming Zhou, Shuibo Qiu The Center of Diagnosis and Treat of Breast Disease, The Second People’s Hospital of Shenzhen City, Shenzhen, P. R. China Received 24 February 2011 Accepted 14 March 2011 Correspondence to: Prof. Dr. Jinsong He, The Center of Diagnosis and Treat of Breast Disease, The Second People’s Hospital of Shenzhen City, Shenzhen 518035, P.R. China. Phone: +86 755 8336 6388 8287; E-mail: hehesmiling@163.com or hjssums@sohu.com Disclosure: No potential conflicts of interest were disclosed. Background. The aim of the study was to evaluate the clinical efficacy of superselective intra-arterial targeted neo- adjuvant chemotherapy in the treatment of estrogen receptor (ER)-negative, progesterone receptor (PR)-negative, and human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2)-negative (triple-negative) breast cancer. Patients and methods. A total of 47 triple-negative breast cancer patients (29 at stage II, 13 at stage III and 5 at stage IV) were randomly assigned to two groups: targeted chemotherapy group (n=24) and control group (n=23). Patients in the targeted chemotherapy group received preoperative superselective intra-arterial chemotherapy with CEF regimen (C: cyclophosphamide [600 mg/m2]; E: epirubicin [90 mg/m2]; F: 5-fluorouracil [600 mg/m2]), and those in the control group received routine neoadjuvant chemotherapy with CEF. The duration of the treatment, changes in lesions and the prognosis were determined. Results. The average course of the treatment was 15 days in the targeted chemotherapy group which was signifi- cantly shorter than that in the control group (31 days) (P<0.01). The remission rate of lesions was 91.6% in the targeted chemotherapy group and 60.9% in the control group, respectively. Among these patients, 9 died within two years, including 2 (both at IV stage) in the targeted chemotherapy group and 7 (2 at stage II, 4 at stage III and 1 at stage IV) in the control group. Conclusions. As an neoadjuvant therapy, the superselective intra-arterial chemotherapy is effective for triple- negative breast cancer, with advantages of the short treatment course and favourable remission rates as well as prognoses. Key words: triple-negative breast cancer; targeted chemotherapy; prognosis Introduction Triple-negative breast cancer refers to breast cancers negative for estrogen receptor (ER), progesterone receptor (PR), and human epidermal growth fac- tor receptor 2 (HER2), accounting for about 15% of breast cancers of all types.1-4 Triple-negative breast cancer progresses rapidly and is susceptible to dis- tant metastasis due to the lack of the effective tar- geted endocrine therapy and anti-HER-2 therapy, resulting in a high mortality. Patients with triple- negative breast cancer have a high risk for death, and no effective treatment has been developed yet.4- 6 The polymerase inhibition might be an effective treatment for triple-negative breast cancer, but it’s still under study.7 Since April 2006, superselective intra-arterial targeted neoadjuvant chemotherapy has been applied in our hospital for the short- course treatment of triple-negative breast cancer. The clinical efficacy of this method in the treatment of triple-negative breast cancer and its effect on the prognosis of this disease were analysed herein. Patients and methods General data A total of 47 patients with triple-negative breast cancer were recruited from April 2006 to March 2010 from the Center of Breast Disease of our hos- pital. All patients underwent core needle biopsy, and the pathological examination was conducted Radiol Oncol 2011; 45(2): 123-128. doi:10.2478/v10019-011-0014-7 123