SYSTEMATIC REVIEW article
Front. Oncol.
Sec. Breast Cancer
Volume 15 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fonc.2025.1631125
Influence of HER2-low and HER2-zero status on pathologic complete response and survival in triple-negative breast cancer: a meta-analysis
Provisionally accepted
- The Affiliated Nanchong Central Hospital of North Sichuan Medical College, Nanchong, China
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Objective: To delve into the influence of different status of human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2) on the long-term survival of patients suffering from triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC), as well as the pathological complete response (pCR) following neoadjuvant therapy (NAT) via meta-analysis. Methods: A computer search in the Embase, PubMed, Web of Science, and Cochrane Library databases was executed up to January 13, 2025, to collect studies related to HER2 status in TNBC patients. The articles were screened per the inclusion and exclusion criteria. The required data were extracted. The study quality was appraised by means of the Newcastle-Ottawa Scale, and statistical analysis was carried out utilizing Stata 15.0 software. Results: 36 studies involving 54,277 patients with TNBC were included. According to the meta-analysis, the pCR rate after NAT was more notable in the HER2-zero group compared to the HER2-low group (RR = 0.90, 95%CI: 0.86-0.93, P < 0.001). Regarding overall survival (OS), HER2-low patients exhibited a better prognosis (HR = 0.93, 95%CI: 0.90-0.97, P < 0.001). For disease-free survival, breast cancer-specific survival, and recurrence-free survival, HER2-low patients might experience an enhanced prognosis. However, the results did not exhibit statistically significant. The sensitivity analysis confirmed the robustness of the meta-analysis results. No publication bias existed in studies on each outcome indicator. Conclusion: HER2 status is essential for the prognostic assessment of TNBC patients, particularly in predicting pCR and OS outcomes.
Keywords: Triple-negative breast cancer, HER2 status, Pathological complete response, overall survival, Meta-analysis
Received: 19 May 2025; Accepted: 29 Aug 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Qin, Pu, Fan and Zhu. 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: Kepeng Zhu, The Affiliated Nanchong Central Hospital of North Sichuan Medical College, Nanchong, China
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