Gender Disparities in Response to Neoadjuvant Therapy for Early-Stage Breast Cancer: A Propensity Score-Matched Analysis of the SEER Database.

Authors

Rashad Ismayilov, Arzu Oguz, Zafer Akcali, Ozden Altundag, Kadri Altundag

Published in

Breast care (Basel, Switzerland). Apr 28, 2026. Epub Apr 28, 2026.

Abstract

Male breast cancer (MBC) is a rare disease, and its management has historically been extrapolated from data on female breast cancer. Evidence regarding the efficacy of neoadjuvant therapy in men and possible gender-based differences in treatment response remains limited. This study aimed to compare neoadjuvant therapy efficacy between men and women using a large, population-based database.
Data from the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) database (2010-2022) were analyzed. Patients with early-stage breast cancer who received neoadjuvant therapy were identified. Propensity score matching (PSM, 1:4 ratio) was performed to balance demographic and clinicopathological variables between male and female patients. Objective response rate (ORR) and overall survival (OS) were compared using χ² tests and Kaplan-Meier analyses, respectively.
Among 55,549 eligible patients, 224 were male and 55,325 were female. After PSM, baseline characteristics were well balanced. Male patients demonstrated a significantly lower ORR compared with female patients (82.1% vs. 87.7%, p = 0.028), with the greatest disparity observed in the HER2-positive subgroup (84.2% vs. 94.6%, p = 0.003). However, among patients who achieved an objective response, OS did not differ significantly between genders (median OS 137 months vs. not reached, p = 0.228).
Men with early-stage breast cancer exhibit lower responsiveness to neoadjuvant therapy than women, particularly in human epidermal growth factor receptor 2-positive (HER2+) disease. However, survival equivalence among responders underscores the continued value of neoadjuvant therapy in MBC.

PMID:
42344753
Bibliographic data and abstract were imported from PubMed on 25 Jun 2026.

Read full publication at:
Please sign in to see all details.

Stats

1-terrible, 9-excellent. How would you rate this publication? Sign in in to submit your rating.

Post a comment

You need to be signed in to post comments. You can sign in here.

Comments

There are no comments yet.