Patterns of recurrence and outcomes in patients with luminal breast cancer: a retrospective study

Patients with luminal breast cancer have better prognosis and survival rates compared to patients with non-luminal breast cancers, such as basal-like and HER-2 subtypes, owing to the added benefits of adjuvant endocrine therapy. However, local relapses and distant metastasis still frequently occur. In recent years, more studies on breast cancer relapse and metastasis have focused on non-luminal breast cancers despite there being more number of cases of luminal breast cancer. In this study, the authors included 387 breast cancer patients with recurrence and metastasis who were treated in their hospital between January 2001 and June 2011, and divided them into luminal and non-luminal groups. The differences in clinical and pathological characteristics, survival rates, and prognostic features after follow-up treatment were retrospectively analyzed in the two groups. The authors found there was a higher proportion of local recurrence and single bone metastasis in luminal group than in the non-luminal group. The risk of recurrence and metastasis in the luminal group two to five years and after five years post-operation continued to be stable, but the risk in the non-luminal group significantly decreased after two years. Luminal breast cancer patients with recurrence or/and metastasis had better prognosis after reasonable treatment. These results are of potential clinical relevance, especially for clinical prognosis monitoring and targeted therapy interventions in patients with luminal breast cancer.