ArticleNPJ breast cancer2021
Clinical, pathological, and PAM50 gene expression features of HER2-low breast cancer.
Article in NPJ breast cancer, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. An erratum has been issued. It is linked to 2 registered trials, which are not on this map. Cited by 373 papers, 8 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Multicenter, Open-label, Randomized Phase III to Evaluate Efficacy of Maintenance Treatment With Capecitabine Following Standard Adjuvant Chemotherapy in Operable Triple Negative Breast Cancer Patients
Clinico-pathological and Genomic Features of HER2-low Early Breast Cancer (eBC). Results of Retrospective Analysis of Seven Adjuvant Trials by the Hellenic Cooperative Oncology Group (HeCOG)
Who cites it
373 citing papers in PubMed, 8 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 669 citations in OpenAlex.
- Guidance for Canadian Breast Cancer Practice: National Consensus Recommendations for the Systemic Treatment of Patients with HR+/HER2- Metastatic Breast Cancer 2025.Current oncology (Toronto, Ont.) · 2026Guideline
- Survival disparities in HER2-low versus HER2-positive breast cancer: a systematic review of progression-free survival and overall survival.Frontiers in oncology · 2026Pooled it
- The value of artificial intelligence in ultrasound imaging for predicting molecular subtypes of breast cancer: a meta-analysis.Frontiers in oncology · 2026Pooled it
- SEOM-GEICAM-SOLTI clinical guidelines in advanced breast cancer (UPDATE 2025).Clinical & translational oncology : official publication of the Federation of Spanish Oncology Societies and of the National Cancer Institute of Mexico · 2026Guideline
- Influence of HER2-low and HER2-zero status on pathologic complete response and survival in triple-negative breast cancer: a meta-analysis.Frontiers in oncology · 2025Pooled it
- 6th and 7th International consensus guidelines for the management of advanced breast cancer (ABC guidelines 6 and 7).Breast (Edinburgh, Scotland) · 2024Guideline
- Consensus Guidelines on Human Epidermal Growth Factor Receptor 2 (HER2)-Low Testing in Breast Cancer in Malaysia.Cancers · 2024Guideline
- Survival outcomes in HER2-low versus HER2-zero breast cancer after neoadjuvant chemotherapy: a meta-analysis.World journal of surgical oncology · 2024Pooled it
- Dose-dense adjuvant chemotherapy in HER2-low breast cancer: An exploratory analysis of the GIM2 trial.Breast (Edinburgh, Scotland) · 2026Trial
- Trial
- Trastuzumab deruxtecan in HER2-low metastatic breast cancer: long-term survival analysis of the randomized, phase 3 DESTINY-Breast04 trial.Nature medicine · 2025Trial
- PROMENADE: pembrolizumab for early ER-low/HER2-negative breast cancer, real-world French cohort.ESMO open · 2025Trial
- Sacituzumab Govitecan Population Pharmacokinetics: Updated Analyses Using HR+/HER2- Metastatic Breast Cancer Data From the Phase 3 TROPiCS-02 Trial.Clinical and translational science · 2025Trial
- Genomic Characterization and Prognostic Significance of Human Epidermal Growth Factor Receptor 2-Low, Hormone Receptor-Positive, Early Breast Cancers From the BIG 1-98 and SOFT Clinical Trials.JCO precision oncology · 2025Trial
- Clinical characterization, prognostic, and predictive values of HER2-low in patients with early breast cancer in the PALLAS trial (ABCSG-42/AFT-05/BIG-14-13/PrE0109).Breast cancer research : BCR · 2024Trial
- Elacestrant in ER+, HER2- Metastatic Breast Cancer with ESR1-Mutated Tumors: Subgroup Analyses from the Phase III EMERALD Trial by Prior Duration of Endocrine Therapy plus CDK4/6 Inhibitor and in Clinical Subgroups.Clinical cancer research : an official journal of the American Association for Cancer Research · 2024Trial
- Trastuzumab deruxtecan versus treatment of physician's choice in previously treated Asian patients with HER2-low unresectable/metastatic breast cancer: subgroup analysis of the DESTINY-Breast04 study.Breast cancer (Tokyo, Japan) · 2024Trial
- CDK4/6-Inhibitors Versus Chemotherapy in Advanced HR+/HER2-Negative Breast Cancer: Results and Correlative Biomarker Analyses of the KENDO Randomized Phase II Trial.The oncologist · 2024Trial
- Accurate assessment of surgical HER2-low status based on core needle biopsy data of breast cancer.Diagnostic and prognostic research · 2026Article
- Revisiting HER2-negative breast cancer in the era of HER2-low and HER2-ultralow expression: Assessment of interobserver variability.Breast (Edinburgh, Scotland) · 2026Article
313 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
- Erratum issued
Authors and funding
27 authors at 13 institutions in 4 countries.
Funding
Abstract
Novel antibody-drug conjugates against HER2 are showing high activity in HER2-negative breast cancer (BC) with low HER2 expression (i.e., 1+ or 2+ and lack of ERBB2 amplification). However, the clinical and molecular features of HER2-low BC are yet to be elucidated. Here, we collected retrospective clinicopathological and PAM50 data from 3,689 patients with HER2-negative disease and made the following observations. First, the proportion of HER2-low was higher in HR-positive disease (65.4%) than triple-negative BC (TNBC, 36.6%). Second, within HR-positive disease, ERBB2 and luminal-related genes were more expressed in HER2-low than HER2 0. In contrast, no gene was found differentially expressed in TNBC according to HER2 expression. Third, within HER2-low, ERBB2 levels were higher in HR-positive disease than TNBC. Fourth, HER2-low was not associated with overall survival in HR-positive disease and TNBC. Finally, the reproducibility of HER2-low among pathologists was suboptimal. This study emphasizes the large biological heterogeneity of HER2-low BC, and the need to implement reproducible and sensitive assays to measure low HER2 expression.
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.