Relationship between chemotherapy sensitivity and claudin-4,Foxc1,and EGFR expression in patients with triple-negative breast cancer

ZHANG Minghui; ZHAO Changyan; HE Hongmei

doi:10.3639/j.issn.2095-3097.2024.04.018

Abstract：Objective To investigate the expression of tight junction-associated protein 4 (Claudin-4),forkhead box C1 (FOXC1),and epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) in patients with triple-negative breast cancer and their correlation with chemotherapy sensitivity. Methods A total of 123 patients with triple-negative breast cancer admit-ted to Qinhuangdao Maternal and Child Health Hospital from May 2019 to May 2021 were included and divided into a chemotherapy-sensitive group (n=86) and an insensitive group (n=37) according to the therapeutic effect of neoadjuvant chemotherapy. The expressions of Claudin-4,FOXC1,and EGFR were detected by the qRT-PCR method. The factors contributing to chemotherapy insensitivity in patients with triple-negative breast cancer were analyzed,and the predic-tive value of these three markers for chemotherapy sensitivity was evaluated using an ROC curve. Results The mRNA levels of Claudin-4,FOXC1,and EGFR were significantly lower in the sensitive group compared to the insensitive group (P<0.05). Logistic regression analysis revealed that high expressions of Claudin-4,FOXC1,and EGFR were risk fac-tors for chemotherapy insensitivity in triple-negative breast cancer patients (P<0.05). The ROC curve showed that the AUC of the combined detection of Claudin-4,FOXC1,and EGFR was higher than that of individual testing(P<0.05). Conclusion Claudin-4,FOXC1,and EGFR were highly expressed in patients with chemotherapy insensitivity to tri-ple-negative breast cancer,which were identified as risk factors for chemotherapy insensitivity. Moreover,the combined de-tection of these three markers effectively predicted chemotherapy sensitivity in triple-negative breast cancer.