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REVIEW article

Front. Oncol.

Sec. Cancer Genetics

Volume 15 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fonc.2025.1635681

Differences in the Distribution of HER2-Positive Breast Tumors According to Ethnicity and Genetic Variants in ERBB2: A Special Focus on Asian and Latina Women

Provisionally accepted
Laura  Rey VargasLaura Rey Vargas1,2Lina María  Bejarano-RiveraLina María Bejarano-Rivera1Patricia  López-CorreaPatricia López-Correa1Diego Felipe  BallenDiego Felipe Ballen1Silvia J.  Serrano-GómezSilvia J. Serrano-Gómez1*
  • 1National Cancer Institute (Colombia), Bogotá, Colombia
  • 2Pontificia Universidad Javeriana, Bogot, Colombia

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

Background: HER2-positive breast tumors are clinically important breast cancer subtypes with an overall unfavorable prognosis, but also with current optimal treatment options that have significantly improved the patients' survival. Several epidemiological registries have reported varying prevalence rates of HER2-positive breast tumors among population groups. In this review, we describe the prevalence of HER2-positive breast tumors by ethnicity, with a special focus on Asian and Latina women, along with genetic variants located in or near ERBB2 that might affect its protein expression. Methods: We conducted a literature search for studies reporting differences in HER2-positive breast tumor prevalence among populations and HER2/ERBB2 molecular features based on genomic background or ancestry. Results: Overall, Asian and Latina women tend to have higher proportions of HER2amplified tumors, compared to non-Hispanic white (NHW) women. Additionally, higher Indigenous American ancestry is associated with an increased likelihood of HER2-positive tumors and elevated ERBB2 expression. We also describe reported differences in the genotype of several genetic variants in ERBB2 or nearby genomic regions according to HER2 expression, and mention variants in other genes that may also be associated. Conclusions: This literature review contributes to a better understanding of the underlying biology of HER2 expression in breast tumors, and the possible mechanisms that explain the differences in the distribution of HER2-positive subtypes among various population groups.

Keywords: Breast neoplams, Her2 gene, American Native Continental Ancestry, single nucleoside polymorphism, Ethnic group

Received: 26 May 2025; Accepted: 10 Jul 2025.

Copyright: © 2025 Rey Vargas, Bejarano-Rivera, López-Correa, Ballen and Serrano-Gómez. 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: Silvia J. Serrano-Gómez, National Cancer Institute (Colombia), Bogotá, Colombia

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