Evidence map›Paper›PMID 36872948›Full record

ArticleTherapeutic advances in medical oncology2023

The association between HER2-low expression and prognosis of breast cancer: a systematic review and meta-analysis.

Yuyao Tang, Guoshuang Shen, Yuanfang Xin, Zhoujuan Li, Yonghui Zheng, Miaozhou Wang, Zhen Liu, Yi Zhao, Fuxing Zhao, Dengfeng Ren and 1 more

Abstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Therapeutic advances in medical oncology, 2023. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 14 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
14citing papers in PubMed, 1 pooled it
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from 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.

2 · The registry

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.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

14 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.

  1. Pooled it
  2. Trial
  3. Comparison of clinical characteristics and survival between HER2-zero and HER2-low in early breast cancer: a retrospective observational study.Clinical & translational oncology : official publication of the Federation of Spanish Oncology Societies and of the National Cancer Institute of Mexico · 2026
    Observational
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  7. Prediction of neoadjuvant chemotherapy efficacy in patients with HER2-low breast cancer based on ultrasound radiomics.Cancer imaging : the official publication of the International Cancer Imaging Society · 2025
    Article
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4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

11 authors.

Yuyao TangBreast Disease Diagnosis and Treatment Center of Affiliated Hospital of Qinghai University & Affiliated Cancer Hospital of Qinghai University, Xining, China.
Guoshuang ShenBreast Disease Diagnosis and Treatment Center of Affiliated Hospital of Qinghai University & Affiliated Cancer Hospital of Qinghai University, Xining, China.
Yuanfang XinBreast Disease Diagnosis and Treatment Center of Affiliated Hospital of Qinghai University & Affiliated Cancer Hospital of Qinghai University, Xining, China.
Zhoujuan LiBreast Disease Diagnosis and Treatment Center of Affiliated Hospital of Qinghai University & Affiliated Cancer Hospital of Qinghai University, Xining, China.
Yonghui ZhengBreast Disease Diagnosis and Treatment Center of Affiliated Hospital of Qinghai University & Affiliated Cancer Hospital of Qinghai University, Xining, China.
Miaozhou WangBreast Disease Diagnosis and Treatment Center of Affiliated Hospital of Qinghai University & Affiliated Cancer Hospital of Qinghai University, Xining, China.
Zhen LiuBreast Disease Diagnosis and Treatment Center of Affiliated Hospital of Qinghai University & Affiliated Cancer Hospital of Qinghai University, Xining, China.
Yi ZhaoBreast Disease Diagnosis and Treatment Center of Affiliated Hospital of Qinghai University & Affiliated Cancer Hospital of Qinghai University, Xining, China.
Fuxing ZhaoBreast Disease Diagnosis and Treatment Center of Affiliated Hospital of Qinghai University & Affiliated Cancer Hospital of Qinghai University, Xining, China.
Dengfeng RenBreast Disease Diagnosis and Treatment Center of Affiliated Hospital of Qinghai University & Affiliated Cancer Hospital of Qinghai University, Xining, China.
Jiuda ZhaoBreast Disease Diagnosis and Treatment Center of Affiliated Hospital of Qinghai University & Affiliated Cancer Hospital of Qinghai University, Xining 810000, China.ORCID https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1266-8943

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Background: The use of antibody-drug conjugates for the treatment of advanced-stage human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2)-low expression in breast cancer (BC) has shown prominent curative effects, which has led to increased academic interest. However, the role of HER2-low expression in the prognosis of BC remains controversial. Methods: We conducted a systematic search of the PubMed, Embase, and Cochrane library databases and several oncology conferences until 20 September 2022. We used fixed- and random-effects models to calculate odds ratio (OR) or hazard ratio (HR) with 95% confidence interval (CI) for overall survival (OS), disease-free survival (DFS), progression-free survival (PFS), and pathological complete response (pCR) rates. Results: Overall, 26 studies encompassing 677,248 patients were included in the meta-analysis. Patients with HER2-low BC showed significantly better OS than those with HER2-zero BC in the overall population (HR = 0.90; 95% CI: 0.85-0.97) and hormone receptor-positive population (HR = 0.98; 95% CI: 0.96-0.99), whereas no significant difference was observed in the OS of the hormone receptor-negative population ( Conclusions: Compared to patients with HER2-zero BC, those with HER2-low BC had better OS in the overall population and hormone receptor-positive population, DFS in hormone receptor-positive population and lower pCR in the overall population. The biological differences between HER2-low and HER2-zero BCs, particularly in hormone receptor-positive patients, and the relationship between HER2-low expression status and prognosis need to be explored further.

Indexed as

antibody–drug conjugatesbreast cancerHER2-lowoverall survivalprognosis

Identifiers

PMID36872948
PMCPMC9983100

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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.