Comparison of Clinicopathological Characteristics for HER2-Null, HER2-Ultralow and HER2-Low Breast Cancer: A Single-Center Study.

Background and Objectives: A recent clinical trial has demonstrated that breast cancer with low-HER2 expression levels responds to trastuzumab deruxtecan treatment. This has prompted a re-evaluation of HER2-targeted therapies in the HER2-negative group. Further research is required in the form of more detailed information about HER2-negative breast cancers with HER2-null, HER2-ultralow, and HER2-low subgroups. This study represents a novel approach to this field. Materials and Methods: HER2-negative breast cancer patients were classified into three groups as HER2-null, HER2-ultralow, and HER2-low. A comparison of clinicopathological features was analyzed retrospectively. Results: Of 722 patients, 22.3% were HER2-null, 23.7% were HER2-ultralow, 54.0% were HER2-low. While two-thirds of all the patients were evaluated as having T2 tumors, T4 tumors constituted 2.4%. Among HER2-negative cases, 11.8% were triple-negative and 88.2% were hormone-positive. The mean tumor diameter was 0.57 cm larger in the HER2-ultralow group than in the HER2-null group and 0.34 cm larger in the HER2-low group than in the HER2-null group. HER2-null tumors tend to be smaller. The HER2-low group was more likely to relapse than the HER2-null group. There were no significant differences in the distribution of hormone positivity or negativity (TNBC) among the groups; they accounted for 89.2% and 10.8% of all cases, respectively. Conclusions: HER2-negative breast cancer is a heterogeneous disease and deserves a detailed review in terms of diagnosis and treatment. HER2-ultralow tumors are larger in size and have a prognosis comparable to HER2-null tumors. HER2-low tumors tend to recur much more frequently and with poorer outcomes. In this field, new therapeutic approaches may result in better outcomes.