Decreased HER2 expression in residual disease following neoadjuvant therapy in patients with HER2-positive breast cancer.

Abstract

e12621 Background: Human epidermal growth factor receptor-2 (HER2) overexpression is a defining feature of roughly 20% of localized breast cancer and represents a critical target for therapy. Since the demonstration that residual disease (RD) after neo adjuvant therapy (NAT) is associated with worse prognosis and that adjuvant ado trastuzumab emtansine (tDM1) improves survival, NAT has become the standard of care for localized HER2+ breast cancer. Retesting for HER2 overexpression post resection is variable, and data is conflicting regarding the prognostic significance of changes in HER2 expression pre and post therapy. The objective of this study was to evaluate the association of pre and post neo adjuvant therapy HER2 immunohistochemistry (IHC) expression on breast cancer outcomes in our institutional database. Methods: After IRB approval, data was gathered for patients with localized HER2+ breast cancer receiving NAT including trastuzumab/pertuzumab at Yale Cancer Center between 2012 and 2022. Pathologic complete response (pCR) was defined as no residual invasive tumor in breast and lymph nodes. Patients were divided into 3 cohorts by response and HER2 IHC: Cohort 1 pCR Cohort 2 pre-treatment 3+/post treatment 1-2+, and Cohort 3 pre-treatment 3+/post treatment 3+. A Kaplan-Meier survival analysis was done to assess recurrence free survival at 36 months. Results: Within the specified time interval, we identified 104 patients with localized HER2-IHC 3+ breast cancer who received neoadjuvant therapy. The pCR rate was 62.5% (65/104), while 37.5% (39/104) of patients had RD. Among patients with RD, 58.9% (23/39) remained HER2 IHC 3+ and 41% (16/39) had decreased HER2 expression IHC1+/IHC 2+. Median follow-up was 27.9 months at time of analysis. In patients with HER2 3+ RD 26% (6/23) developed local recurrence or distant metastasis while none of patients with HER2 IHC 1+ or 2+ RD had relapse ( p= 0.0309). In patients with pCR, 6.15% (4/65) had recurrence. Kaplan-Meier survival analysis showed a significant difference between the 3 groups (log rank p= 0.004). Conclusions: In our retrospective cohort, decreased HER2 expression by IHC following neoadjuvant treatment was associated with lower recurrence rates. If confirmed, RD HER2 IHC expression could be used as a prognostic biomarker to select patients for more or less aggressive adjuvant therapy, stratify patients in adjuvant trials, and identify patients who may benefit from more intensive post therapy surveillance.