Breast Cancer Molecular Subtype as a Predictor of Radiation Therapy Fractionation Sensitivity

Purpose

The predictive benefit of breast cancer molecular subtypes for systemic therapy approaches has been well established; yet, there is a paucity of data regarding their use as a predictor of radiation therapy fractionation sensitivity. The purpose of this study was to determine whether rates of local recurrence (LR) for patients treated with hypofractionated (HF) radiation therapy, in comparison to conventional fractionation, differ across breast cancer molecular subtypes in a large, prospectively collected cohort treated with modern systemic therapy.

Methods and Materials

Patients who received a diagnosis of stage I-III breast cancer between 2005 and 2009 were identified. Molecular subtype was determined using the American Joint Committee on Cancer classification system (luminal-A, luminal-B, HER2+, triple negative [TN]). Multivariable Cox regression modeling was used to identify predictors of LR. LR-free-survival (LRFS) was determined using the Kaplan-Meier method and compared using the log-rank test.

Results

A total of 5868 cases were identified with a median follow-up of 10.8 years. Patients with luminal-A subtype composed 45% of the cohort (n = 2628), compared with 30% luminal-B (n = 1734), 15% HER2+ (n = 903), and 10% TN (n = 603). A total of 76% (n = 4429) of patients were treated with HF. The 10-year LRFS was 97.1% (95% confidence interval [CI], 96.6-97.6) for the whole cohort. The 10-year LRFS based on molecular subtypes was 98.3% (95% CI, 97.6-98.7) luminal-A, 96.6% (95% CI, 95.5-97.4) luminal-B, 97.0% (95% CI, 95.5-98.0) HER2+, and 93.5% (95% CI, 91.1-95.3) TN (P < .001). There was no difference in the 10-year LRFS between patients treated with HF versus conventional fractionation among those with luminal-A (98.2% vs 98.4%; P = .42), luminal-B (96.6% vs 96.8%; P = .90), HER2+ (97.5% vs 95.8%; P = .12), or TN (93.9% vs 92.2%; P = .47). There was no significant interaction between subtype and fractionation regimen.

Conclusions

These data support the routine use of hypofractionated radiation therapy regimens across all breast cancer subtypes.