ArticleBreast cancer research : BCR2024
HER2-low and tumor infiltrating lymphocytes in triple-negative breast cancer: Are they connected?
Article in Breast cancer research : BCR, 2024. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 17 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
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Who cites it
17 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 12 citations in OpenAlex.
- 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
- Trial
- Discordance between Breast and Axillary Responses After Neoadjuvant Chemotherapy in Triple-Negative Breast Cancer: Implications for Surgical De-Escalation.Annals of surgical oncology · 2026Article
- Poly (lactic-co-glycolic acid) nanoplatforms for triple-negative breast cancer: current progress, advances, and future outlook.Daru : journal of Faculty of Pharmacy, Tehran University of Medical Sciences · 2026Review
- Comparison of Stromal Tumor-Infiltrating Lymphocyte (sTIL) Levels and Clinicopathological Features in Neoadjuvant-Naive HER2-Low and HER2-Negative Primary Breast Cancers.Medicina (Kaunas, Lithuania) · 2026Article
- Elucidating the relationship between affinity and potency in the performance of therapeutic IgE.Scientific reports · 2026Article
- Mechanisms of Resistance and Synergy: The Role of Tumor Microenvironment in HER2-Low Breast Cancer Therapy.Pharmaceuticals (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Review
- Androgen receptor expression and immune characteristics of HER2-low metastatic triple-negative breast cancer.NPJ breast cancer · 2026Article
- ZSTK3744, a Novel Aryl Hydrocarbon Receptor Agonist, Exhibits Efficacy against Chemotherapy-Resistant Triple-Negative Breast Cancer.Cancer research communications · 2026Article
- Epigenetic determinants of an immune-evasive phenotype in HER2-low triple-negative breast cancer.NPJ precision oncology · 2025Article
- Tumor-Infiltrating Lymphocytes in Breast and Female Genital Tract Cancers: Overlooked Potential and Unexplored Frontiers.Cancer medicine · 2025Review
- Predictive value of androgen receptor in distant metastasis of triple-negative breast cancer: a retrospective multi-center study.BMC cancer · 2025Article
- ERBB2-Low Expression by Race and Ethnicity Among Patients With Triple-Negative Breast Cancer.JAMA network open · 2025Article
- CD155-TIGIT/CD96/CD226 immune checkpoint axis interacting with tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes to exhibit diverse prognostic effects on breast cancer: a cohort study.Frontiers in immunology · 2025Article
- Targeting low-risk triple-negative breast cancer: a review on de-escalation strategies for a new era.Translational breast cancer research : a journal focusing on translational research in breast cancer · 2025Review
- Advances in Immunotherapy for HER2 Low-Expressing Triple-Negative Breast Cancer.Cancer management and research · 2025Review
- Review
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
9 authors at 3 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Most patients with triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) are not candidates for targeted therapy, leaving chemotherapy as the primary treatment option. Recently, immunotherapy has demonstrated promising results in TNBC, due to its immunogenicity. In addition, a novel antibody-drug conjugate, namely, trastuzumab-deruxtecan, has shown effectiveness in TNBC patients with low-HER2 expression (HER2-low). These novel treatment options raise the question about the potential association between the density of stromal tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes (sTILs) and the level of HER2 expression. We aimed to evaluate the association between the level of HER2 expression (HER2-low versus HER2-0) and density of sTILs in TNBC patients, and how they impact the response to neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NAC). This was a retrospective multicenter study including all TNBC patients diagnosed between 2018 and 2022. Central pathology review included sTILs percentages and level of HER2 expression. Tumors were reclassified as either HER2-0 (HER2 IHC 0) or HER2-low (IHC 1 + or 2 + with negative reflex test). Various clinicopathologic characteristics, including sTILs density, and response to NAC were compared between HER2-0 and HER2-low cases. In total, 753 TNBC patients were included in this study, of which 292 patients received NAC. Interobserver agreement between the original pathology report and central review was moderate (77% had the same IHC status after reclassification in either HER2-0 or HER2-low; k = 0.45). HER2-low TNBC represented about one third (36%) of the tumors. No significant difference in sTILs density or complete pathologic response rate was found between HER2-0 and HER2-low cases (p = 0.476 and p = 0.339, respectively). The density of sTILs (≥ 10% sTILs vs. < 10%) was independently associated with achieving a pCR (p = 0.011). In conclusion, no significant association was found between HER2-low status and density of sTILs nor response to NAC. Nonetheless, sTILs could be an independent biomarker for predicting NAC response in TNBC patients.
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