Relationship between HER2 expression in circulating tumor cells and clinicopathological features and prognosis of advanced breast cancer
MA Chen
PENG Li
CHEN Jing
CAI Ming-yong
Abstract：Objective To analyze the relationship between human epidermal growth factor receptor 2(HER2)expression in circulating tumor cells(CTC)and clinicopathological features and prognosis of advanced breast cancer.Methods The data of 95 patients with CTC-positive advanced breast cancer were collected.The expression of HER2 in CTC,primary tumor tissue and metastatic tumor tissue was detected.The relationship between the expression of CTC-HER2 and clinicopathological features and prognosis was analyzed.Results The positive rate of CTC-HER2 in 95 CTC-positive patients(35.79%)was higher than that in primary tumor tissue(15.79%)and metastatic tumor tissue(13.95%,P＜0.05).The consistent rate of HER2 positive CTC with primary tumor tissue was 71.59%,and the consistent rate with metastatic tumor tissue was 83.72%.CTC-HER2 positive expression was not associated with clinicopathological features(P＞0.05).After 26(3-65)months of follow-up,the survival rate was 78.02%.Kaplan-Meier analysis showed that the progression-free survival rate of CTC-HER2-positive patients was higher than that of negative patients(P＜0.05),and there was no difference in overall survival rate between CTC-HER2-positive and negative patients(P＞0.05).Conclusion There is heterogeneity of HER2 expression in primary tumor,metastatic tumor and CTC in patients with advanced breast cancer.CTC-HER2 expression is associated with progression-free survival,but not with overall survival.
Keywords：Breast cancerAdvanced stageCirculating tumor cellsHuman epidermal growth factor receptor 2Clinicopathological featuresTumor free survivalOverall survival
Publication Date：2025-04-28
Online Publishing Date：2025-08-15(First online date of this platform, not the publication date of the document)
Pages：6( 396-401 )