Breast cancer in togolese women: immunohistochemistry subtypes

BACKGROUND: Molecular classification of breast cancer is an important factor for prognostic and clinical outcomes. There are no data regarding molecular breast cancer subtypes among Togolese women. The objective of this study was to evaluate the expression of ER, PR, HER2, and molecular subtypes of breast cancer receptors in Togolese patients and to establish the correlation between clinical and histological data and molecular types. METHODS: Clinicopathologic data of patients were collected from clinical records. Immunohistochemistry biomarkers (ER, PR, and HER2) were assessed in patients who have been diagnosed with invasive breast cancer from March 2016 to March 2020 in the department of oncology. The analysis of variance and the Chi-square Test was used to analyze the data. RESULTS: A total of 117 cases were collected. The mean age of patients was 52.05 ± 12.38 with an age range of 30 to 85 years. Half of the patients were over 50 years old and the majority (70.9%) was postmenopausal. More than half of patients (52.1%) presented with T3-T4tumors.The most common histologic subtype of breast cancer was invasive ductal carcinoma of no special type (95.7%). Tumors grade 2 were predominant (51.3%) followed by grade 3 (42.7%). Advanced carcinomas were found in 69 patients (59%). The percentage of ER+, PR+, and HER2 positive tumors was 54.7%, 41%, and 15.4% respectively. The predominant molecular subtype was Triple negative (37.6%), followed by Luminal A (30.8.7%), Luminal B subtype (23.9%), and HER2 enriched (7.7%). There was a significant association between stage and breast cancer subtypes (p 0.025), histologic grade, and subtype (p < 0.0001) but no correlation was found with age, menopausal status, and tumor size. CONCLUSION: Breast carcinoma in our patients are high grade tumors and are diagnosed at an advanced stage. Triple negative and Luminal A are the two predominant breast cancer subtypes in Togolese women. Consequently, Receptor testing availability should be a priority to offer the best breast cancer treatment.