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REVIEW article
Front. Oncol.
Sec. Breast Cancer
Volume 15 - 2025 |
doi: 10.3389/fonc.2025.1484103
Clinical characteristics and therapeutic direction of HER2 low-expression breast cancer
Provisionally accepted
Linlin Zhou 1
Yinghui Zhang 1* Jiayu Zhang 1* Hongyu Wang 1* Bozhi Zhao 1* Qunyu Hu 1* Songhe Wang 2* Yixin Cai 1* Yuansong Qu 1* Xinxin Li 1* Dongwei Zhang 1*- 1 The Second Affiliated Hospital of Harbin Medical University, Harbin, China
- 2 Harbin Medical University Cancer Hospital, Harbin, Heilongjiang Province, China
Human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2) is one of the oncogenic drivers of breast cancer and is often used as a definitive therapeutic marker for breast cancer. This has led to significant improvements in both targeted therapy and prognosis for HER2-targeted breast cancer. Due to the differences in HER2 gene and protein expression levels, they are clinically classified into HER2 zero-expression breast cancer, low-expression breast cancer and high-expression breast cancer. Among them, HER2 low-expression is considered a special expression state, which is insensitive to conventional anti-HER2 therapy and has a poorer prognosis and thus has received attention from researchers. Some studies demonstrate that patients with HER2 low-expression can benefit from antibody-drug conjugates (ADC). Several studies are currently exploring the efficacy of various ADC drugs in breast cancer with HER2 low-expression, opening up new treatment avenues for patients with HER2 low-expression breast cancer. This review aims to summarize the clinical features of HER2 low-expression breast cancer and the recent advances in its therapeutic agents.
Keywords: HER2 low-expression breast cancer, HER2, Clinical features, Advanced treatment, targeted therapy
Received: 21 Aug 2024; Accepted: 31 Jan 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Zhou, Zhang, Zhang, Wang, Zhao, Hu, Wang, Cai, Qu, Li and Zhang. 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:
Yinghui Zhang, The Second Affiliated Hospital of Harbin Medical University, Harbin, China
Jiayu Zhang, The Second Affiliated Hospital of Harbin Medical University, Harbin, China
Hongyu Wang, The Second Affiliated Hospital of Harbin Medical University, Harbin, China
Bozhi Zhao, The Second Affiliated Hospital of Harbin Medical University, Harbin, China
Qunyu Hu, The Second Affiliated Hospital of Harbin Medical University, Harbin, China
Songhe Wang, Harbin Medical University Cancer Hospital, Harbin, 150081, Heilongjiang Province, China
Yixin Cai, The Second Affiliated Hospital of Harbin Medical University, Harbin, China
Yuansong Qu, The Second Affiliated Hospital of Harbin Medical University, Harbin, China
Xinxin Li, The Second Affiliated Hospital of Harbin Medical University, Harbin, China
Dongwei Zhang, The Second Affiliated Hospital of Harbin Medical University, Harbin, China
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