Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2024 Sep;57(3):177-184.
doi: 10.1007/s00795-024-00386-z. Epub 2024 Apr 15.

Utility of human epidermal growth factor 2 heterogeneity as a prognostic factor in triple-negative breast cancer

Eriko Narusawa  1   2 , Sasagu Kurozumi  3   4   5 , Ayaka Katayama  6 , Yukio Koibuchi  1 , Akira Ogawa  7 , Daisuke Takata  1 , Shoko Tokuda  1 , Sayaka Obayashi  2 , Tetsunari Oyama  6 , Jun Horiguchi  8 , Ken Shirabe  2 , Takaaki Fujii  2
Affiliations

Utility of human epidermal growth factor 2 heterogeneity as a prognostic factor in triple-negative breast cancer

Eriko Narusawa et al. Med Mol Morphol. 2024 Sep.

Abstract

In some cases of human epidermal growth factor 2 (HER2)-negative breast cancer, including triple-negative breast cancer, HER2 expression is sporadically and strongly upregulated, a condition known as HER2 heterogeneity. We investigated the clinicopathological features of patients with HER2 heterogeneity in triple-negative breast cancers treated with neoadjuvant chemotherapy. Thirty-nine patients with triple-negative breast cancer who had undergone preoperative chemotherapy participated in this study. To assess for HER2 heterogeneity, we used dual in situ hybridization slides. We evaluated the association between HER2 heterogeneity and clinicopathological factors such as rates of pathologic complete response (pCR) and of recurrence-free survival. Of the 39 patients, 15 (38.5%) had cancers with HER2 heterogeneity. The pCR rates were 13.3% among patients with HER2 heterogeneity and 20.8% among those with HER2 nonheterogeneity, but the difference was not significant. The recurrence-free survival rate was significantly lower in patients with HER2 heterogeneity than in those without (P = 0.025). HER2 heterogeneity is a significant predictor of poor prognosis in patients with triple-negative breast cancer treated with neoadjuvant chemotherapy.

Keywords: Heterogeneity; Prognosis; Triple-negative breast cancer.

PubMed Disclaimer

References

    1. Early Breast Cancer Trialists’ Collaborative Group (EBCTCG) (2005) Effects of chemotherapy and hormonal therapy for early breast cancer on recurrence and 15-year survival: an overview of the randomised trials. Lancet 365:1687–1717 - DOI
    1. Kurozumi S, Katayama A, Shirabe K, Horiguchi J, Rakha EA (2021) Clinicopathological utility of human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2)-heterogeneity for next-generation treatments of triple-negative breast cancer. Oncotarget 12:2302–2304 - DOI - PubMed - PMC
    1. Robson ME, Tung N, Conte P, Im SA, Senkus E, Xu B, Masuda N, Delaloge S, Li W, Armstrong A, Wu W, Goessl C, Runswick S, Domchek SM (2019) OlympiAD final overall survival and tolerability results: nternal versus chemotherapy treatment of physician’s choice in patients with a germline BRCA mutation and HER2-negative metastatic breast cancer. Ann Oncol 30:558–566 - DOI - PubMed - PMC
    1. Cortes J, Cescon DW, Rugo HS, Nowecki Z, Im SA, Yusof MM, Gallardo C, Lipatov O, Barrios CH, Holgado E, Iwata H, Masuda N, Otero MT, Gokmen E, Loi S, Guo Z, Zhao J, Aktan G, Karantza V, Schmid P, KEYNOTE-355 Investigators (2020) Pembrolizumab plus chemotherapy versus placebo plus chemotherapy for previously untreated locally recurrent inoperable or metastatic triple-negative breast cancer (KEYNOTE-355): a nternaliz, placebo-controlled, double-blind, phase 3 clinical trial. Lancet 396:1817–1828 - DOI - PubMed
    1. Schmid P, Cortes J, Pusztai L, McArthur H, Kümmel S, Bergh J, Denkert C, Park YH, Hui R, Harbeck N, Takahashi M, Foukakis T, Fasching PA, Cardoso F, Untch M, Jia L, Karantza V, Zhao J, Aktan G, Dent R, O’Shaughnessy J, KEYNOTE-522 Investigators (2020) Pembrolizumab for early triple-negative breast cancer. N Engl J Med 382:810–821 - DOI - PubMed

MeSH terms

LinkOut - more resources