A gene signature predicts response to neoadjuvant chemotherapy in triple-negative breast cancer patients

Triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) accounts for approximately 15% of all breast cancer cases. TNBC is highly aggressive and associated with poor prognosis. The present study aimed to compare gene expression between TNBC patients with pathological complete response (pCR) and those with not complete response (nCR) to neoadjuvant chemotherapy. Microarray data of 16 TNBC patients received neoadjuvant chemotherapy were identified from the Gene Expression Omnibus database and 10 patients of them had pCR. We found that 250 coding genes and 155 long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs) were statistically differentially expressed between patients with pCR and nCR. Receiver operator characteristic curve and area under the curve (AUC) were calculated to assess predictive value of differentially expressed genes. A gene signature of three coding genes and two lncRNA was developed: 2.318*TCF3 + 7.349*CREB1 + 0.891*CEP44 + 0.091*NR_023392.1 + 1.424*NR_048561.1 - 106.682. The gene signature was further validated and had an AUC = 0.829. In summary, we profiled gene expression in pCR patients and developed a gene signature, which was effective to predict pCR among TNBC patients received neoadjuvant chemotherapy.