Emerging literature data are showing that a change in human epidermal growth factor receptor (HER2) status adversely affects breast cancer patient's prognosis. The aim of this study was to evaluate the prognostic impact of HER2 loss in patients with HER2-positive disease treated with neoadjuvant therapy with or without anti-HER2 agents.One hundred and seven consecutive HER2-positive patients were identified from a prospectively maintained database. The first cohort includes 40 patients treated with chemotherapy (CT) alone. The second cohort includes 67 patients treated with neoadjuvant CT plus anti-HER2 agents (trastuzumab and/or lapatinib). HER2 expression was evaluated by immunihistochemistry or fluorescence in situ hybridization on pretreatment core biopsy and on surgical specimen after therapy.The rates of pathologic complete response (pCR) and breast-conserving surgery were higher in the CT + anti-HER2 cohort. A loss of HER2 expression was observed in 40

作者：V, Guarneri；M V, Dieci；E, Barbieri；F, Piacentini；C, Omarini；G, Ficarra；S, Bettelli；P F, Conte

来源：Annals of oncology : official journal of the European Society for Medical Oncology 2013 年 24卷 12期