Importance: Erb-b2 receptor tyrosine kinase 2 (ERBB2; formerly HER2 [human epidermal growth factor receptor 2]) is an important prognostic and predictive factor in breast cancer. Anti-ERBB2 therapies have improved outcomes in ERBB2-positive breast cancer. However, based on current definitions, tumors with low ERBB2 expression are included in the ERBB2-negative subtype, and therefore, are ineligible for anti-ERBB2 therapies; patients with ERBB2-low (immunohistochemistry [IHC] 1 positive [+] or IHC 2+/in situ hybridization [ISH] negative [-]) tumors account for up to approximately 50% of breast cancer cases. Although the prognostic role of ERBB2-low needs to be defined, ERBB2 offers a potential therapeutic target in these patients.
Observations: Most breast cancer tumors have some ERBB2 expression, with ERBB2-low being more common in hormone receptor-positive than in hormone receptor-negative breast cancer. Although an early clinical study failed to demonstrate benefit of adjuvant trastuzumab for ERBB2-low disease, several novel anti-ERBB2 therapies have shown efficacy in ERBB2-low breast cancer, including the antibody-drug conjugate trastuzumab deruxtecan in a phase 3 trial, and trastuzumab duocarmazine and the bispecific antibody zenocutuzumab in early-phase studies. Although reports are conflicting, some differences in biology and patient outcomes have been found between ERBB2-low and ERBB2 IHC-0 breast cancer. Currently, no established guidelines exist for scoring ERBB2-low expression in breast cancer because the focus has been on binary classification as ERBB2-positive or ERBB2-negative. Additional interpretive cutoffs may be needed to select patients for treatment with effective agents in ERBB2-low breast cancer, along with standardized laboratory quality assurance programs to ensure consistent patient identification for eligibility for ERBB2-low targeting agents.
Conclusions and relevance: This review suggests that ERBB2-low may be a distinct, clinically relevant breast cancer entity warranting reassessment of traditional diagnostic and therapeutic paradigms. Ongoing clinical trials and further investigations may provide optimized strategies for diagnosing and treating ERBB2-low breast cancer, including reproducible, consistent definitions to identify patients in this diagnostic category and demonstration of benefits of emerging therapies.