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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Oncol.
Sec. Breast Cancer
Volume 14 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/fonc.2024.1454726
This article is part of the Research Topic The Exciting Opportunities and Challenges for Targeting “HER2 low” Breast Cancers and Beyond View all 4 articles

Efficacy and Prognosis of Neoadjuvant Chemotherapy in HER2 Low-Expressing Breast Cancer: A Retrospective Single-Center Study

Provisionally accepted
Huifen Zhen Huifen Zhen *Yarong Yao Yarong Yao
  • Shanxi Bethune Hospital, Shanxi Medical University, Taiyuan, China

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    Purpose: Human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2) is vital for breast cancer prognosis. The aim of this study was to analyze the clinicopathological data of HER2-negative breast cancer patients receiving neoadjuvant chemotherapy and the associated factors affecting the pathological complete response rate (pCR) and prognosis. Methods: Clinical data of 173 patients with primary HER2-negative breast cancer, who initially received neoadjuvant chemotherapy followed by surgical treatment at the Breast Surgery Department of Bethune Hospital in Shanxi Province from January 2012 to December 2022, were collected. Results: Compared to HER2-0 patients, HER2-low patients had higher T staging (p = 0.008), higher Ki67 proliferation index (p < 0.001), lower N staging (p = 0.001), and lower pCR rate (p < 0.001). Univariate analysis revealed that T stage, TNM stage, HR status, HER2 status, and Ki67 are risk factors that affect the pCR rate in HER-2 negative. Multivariate analysis identified HR status as an independent predictor of pCR rate. Kaplan–Meier survival curves showed that menstrual status, N staging, T staging, TNM staging, and pCR status affected the prognosis of HER2-low breast cancer patients (p < 0.05). Conclusion: HER2-low breast cancer exhibits distinct biological behaviors, suggesting personalized treatment approaches.

    Keywords: breast cancer, low expression of human epidermal growth factor receptor 2, neoadjuvant chem-otherapy, Pathological complete response, prognostic factors

    Received: 05 Jul 2024; Accepted: 09 Sep 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 Zhen and Yao. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence: Huifen Zhen, Shanxi Bethune Hospital, Shanxi Medical University, Taiyuan, China

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