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Updated: Jan 12, 2026
Studying Triple Negative Breast Cancer Using Orthotopic Breast Cancer Model
Published on: March 20, 2020
The Prognostic Impact of HER2 Status and Survival Outcomes in Metastatic Triple Negative Breast Cancer
Alper Turkel1, Ece Baydar2, Rümeysa Çolak3
1Department of Medical Oncology, University of Health Sciences, Dr. Abdurrahman Yurtaslan Ankara Oncology Research and Treatment Hospital, Ankara, Türkiye; turkelalperr@gmail.com.
Background/Aim:
This study investigated the prognostic impact of human epidermal growth factor-2 receptor (HER2) status on the survival of patients with metastatic triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC).
Patients And Methods:
This multicenter, retrospective study included 168 patients diagnosed with recurrent or de novometastatic TNBC between April 2013 and September 2024. Patients were categorized into two groups: HER2-negative (n=121, 72%) and HER2-low (n=47, 28%). Clinicopathological features and survival outcomes were compared between groups.
Results:
The median follow-up was 44 months [95% confidence interval (CI)=35.7-52.2]. All patients received systemic chemotherapy as part of their first-line treatment. The median progression-free survival (PFS) in all patients was 9 months (95%CI=7.7-10.3 months). The median overall survival (OS) in all patients was 22 months (95%CI=17.4-26.5 months). Higher Ki67 value at diagnosis was a significant poor prognostic factor for median OS (29 months vs. 15 months, p<0.001). HER2-negative patients had significantly worse median OS than HER2-low patients (19 months vs. 33 months, p=0.026). In multivariate analysis, the HER2-low group had significantly longer median OS than the HER2-negative group [hazard ratio=0.64 (95%CI=0.42-0.98), p=0.040].
Conclusion:
HER2-low expression was associated with significantly improved survival compared with HER2-negative status in metastatic TNBC. These findings highlight HER2 status as a potential prognostic factor, particularly relevant in settings with limited access to novel therapies such as immunotherapy or antibody-drug conjugates.
