Predictive Value of Serum Aurora A, Thymidine Kinase 1, and HER3/ErbB3 in Breast Cancer Patients Before Neoadjuvant Treatment

Further personalization is needed to improve the outcomes of breast cancer treatment. It is necessary to find new inexpensive and easily evaluated predictive markers. In this study, we determined serum level of Aurora A (AURKA), thymidine kinase 1 (TK1) and human epidermal growth factor receptor type 3 (HER3) by enzyme immunoassay ELISA. We collected peripheral blood sera of 119 women with breast cancer before neoadjuvant treatment and the control group of 47 randomly selected healthy women. After treatment we analyzed clinical data: age, initial TNM stage, tumor receptors expression: estrogen (ER), progesterone (PGR), epidermal growth factor receptor type 2 (HER2), Ki67, histological malignancy grade, biological subtype, and response to neoadjuvant treatment in residual cancer burden (RCB) classification. Pathologic complete response (PCR) was achieved in 41 patients (34.45%). In univariate analysis patients with higher AURKA levels were more likely to obtain PCR (p=0.039). In multivariate analysis we used the logit regression model with PCR as the dependent. The effect of AURKA concentration ≥4.75 ng / mL on the chance of achieving PCR was found (OR: 3.5; 95%CI: 1.2-10.1; p = 0.023). Other significant PCR factors included: node status (OR: 0.503; 95% CI: 0.263-0.965; p = 0.039), negative PGR expression (OR: 0.104; 95% CI: 0.038-0.284; p < 0.001), and Ki67 >20% (OR: 5.44; 95% CI: 1.24-23,9; p < 0.025). There was no significance in marker concentrations and clinical features nor between breast cancer patients and control group. The outcomes suggest that serum AURKA level is a potential PCR prediction marker in neoadjuvant breast cancer treatment. Further studies are needed to confirm our observations.