To investigate the changes of the expression of hepatocyte growth factor (HGF) before and after neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NAC) for breast cancer and to analyze the efficacy of NAC.

From January 2014 to December 2018, clinical data of 120 breast cancer patients received NAC with 2-4 cycle EC regimen were analyzed retrospectively. ER, PR, HER-2, Ki-67 and HGF were detected by immunohistochemistry before and after NAC. Statistical software SPSS 25.0 were used for data analysis, and P<0.05 was considered statistically significant.

The overall positive expression rate of HGF in breast cancer was 86.7%(104/120); and the positive rates of Luminal B type, HER-2 overexpression type and triple negative breast cancer were 82.1% (23/28), 86.4% (38/44) and 89.6%(43/48)respectively, with no significant difference in the expression of HGF between different breast cancer subtypes (P>0.05); The overall effective rate of NAC was 75.0%(90/120)while the positive expression rate of HGF in NAC ineffective breast cancer was 83.3%(25/30). There was no significant difference between groups in terms of the positive expression rate of HGF before NAC (P>0.05); The positive expression rate of HGF in NAC effective breast cancer for Luminal B type, HER-2 overexpression type and triple negative breast cancer were 42.9%(6/14), 20.6%(7/34), and 11.9%(5/42) respectively, with significant difference in terms of the positive expression rate of HGF before NAC (P<0.05).

HGF is highly expressed in breast cancer tissues and has no obvious relationship with molecular subtypes. HGF is expected to be a predictor for the efficacy of NAC to breast cancer.