Objective: This study aimed to explore the correlation between PTPRO methylation in plasma and the efficacy of neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NAC) for early breast cancer (BC).
Methods: Eighty-two patients with early BC undergoing NAC were included. PTPRO methylation status in plasma before and after NAC was detected using methylation-specific PCR and the relationship between PTPRO methylation and NAC efficacy was analyzed.
Results: The rate of pathologic complete response (pCR) was only 25.0% (12/48) in patients with positive PTPRO methylation result before NAC, but 61 0.8% (21/34) in pre-NAC methylation-negative patients (OR = 0.24, 95% CI : 0.09– 0.65, P = 0.005). In addition, the pCR rate was 12.1% (4/33) in patients with positive PTPRO methylation results both before and after NAC, but 53.3% (8/15) in patients with pre-NAC positive methylation and post-NAC negative methylation results (OR = 0.12, 95% CI : 0.03– 0.52, P = 0.004).
Conclusion: Plasma PTPRO methylation is a potential biomarker for predicting the efficacy of NAC in early BC.
Keywords: breast cancer, neoadjuvant chemotherapy, PTPRO, methylation, liquid biopsy