Multicenter retrospective study on the use of Curebest™ 95GC Breast for estrogen receptor-positive and node-negative early breast cancer

BACKGROUND: The benefits of postoperative chemotherapy in patients with estrogen receptor (ER)-positive breast cancer remain unclear. The use of tumor grade, Ki-67, or ER expression failed to provide an accurate prognosis of the risk of relapse after surgery in patients. This study aimed to evaluate whether a multigene assay Curebest™ 95GC Breast (95GC) can identify the risk of recurrence and provide more insights into the requirements for chemotherapy in patients. METHODS: This single-arm retrospective multicenter joint study included patients with ER-positive, node-negative breast cancer who were treated at five facilities in Japan and had received endocrine therapy alone as adjuvant therapy. The primary lesion specimens obtained during surgery were analyzed using the 95GC breast cancer multigene assay. Based on the 95GC results, patients were classified into low-risk (95GC-L) and high-risk (95GC-H) groups. RESULTS: The 10-year relapse-free survival rates were 88.4 and 59.6% for the 95GC-L and 95GC-H groups, respectively. Histologic grade, Ki-67, and PAM50 exhibited a significant relationship with the 95GC results. The segregation into 95GC-L and 95GC-H groups within established clinical factors can identify subgroups of patients using histologic grade or PAM50 classification with good prognosis without receiving chemotherapy. CONCLUSIONS: Based on the results of our retrospective study, 95GC could be used to evaluate the long-term prognosis of ER-positive, node-negative breast cancer. Even though further prospective validation is necessary, the inclusion of 95GC in clinical practice could help to select optimal treatments for breast cancer patients and identify those who do not benefit from the addition of chemotherapy, thus avoiding unnecessary treatment. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s12885-021-08778-5.