The relevance of macrocytosis induction during neoadjuvant dose-dense chemotherapy in breast cancer patients

Abstract

The aim of this study was to explore the red blood cell changes that occur during neoadjuvant dosedense chemotherapy (NAC) of breast cancer. Also, we investigated the role of macrocytosis as a predictive biomarker for pathological complete response and disease-free survival (DFS) in these patients. A retrospective analysis of 82 breast cancer patients' data treated with anthracycline-cyclophosphamide-paclitaxel (AC-T) NAC in three oncology institutions in south Croatia from 2013 to 2020 was carried out. During chemotherapy mean corpuscular volume increased with time, with a median increase of 7.25 fl. Macrocytosis was induced in 38% of patients overall. Development of macrocytosis did not correlate with DFS [hazard ratio = 0.525; 95% confidence interval (CI), 0.074-3.768; P = 0.525]. Higher percentage of patients in macrocytosis group achieved PCR, 39% vs. 29% in no macrocytosis group, but this difference was not statistically significant. The relevance of macrocytosis induction during dose-dense neoadjuvant chemotherapy in breast cancer should be further explored.