Analysis of Tau Protein Expression in Predicting Pathological Complete Response to Neoadjuvant Chemotherapy in Different Molecular Subtypes of Breast Cancer

Purpose: Tau is a microtubule-associated protein that can be found in both normal and abnormal breast cells. Whether the expression of Tau protein can predict the response to neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NACT) is still unclear. In this study, we assessed the role of Tau protein expression in predicting a pathological complete response (pCR) to NACT for different subtypes of breast cancer.

Methods: Four hundred and sixty-eight eligible patients were retrospectively recruited in our study. The relationship between clinicopathologic factors, including Tau protein expression, and pCR in different subtypes was evaluated using logistic regression analysis. Correlation between Tau and disease-free survival (DFS) and overall survival (OS) was performed using Kaplan-Meier analysis.

Results: The expression of Tau protein was negatively correlated with pCR, especially in triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC). No significant difference was observed in the luminal human epidermal growth factor receptor-2 (HER2)-negative subtype and HER2-positive subtype. Patients with pCR were associated with better DFS and OS (p < 0.05). However, Tau protein expression had no association with either DFS or OS (p > 0.05).

Conclusion: Tau protein expression can predict pCR before NACT in TNBC, but there was no correlation between Tau expression and DFS or OS.