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Table 1 Clinicopathological features by HER2 and hormone receptor status

From: HER2 expression, copy number variation and survival outcomes in HER2-low non-metastatic breast cancer: an international multicentre cohort study and TCGA-METABRIC analysis

 

Total (%)

Hormone receptor-positive (%)

Hormone receptor-negative (%)

HER2-zero

(n = 16,020)

HER2low

(n = 12,260)

P

HER2-zero

(n = 12,712)

HER2-low

(n = 10,791)

P

HER2-zero

(n = 3272)

HER2-low

(n = 1362)

P

Age at diagnosis, years

 Below 35

787 (4.9)

541 (4.4)

0.071

528 (4.2)

455 (4.2)

0.014

256 (7.8)

77 (5.7)

< 0.001

 35–49

7448 (46.5)

5798 (47.3)

 

6131 (48.2)

5244 (48.6)

 

1291 (39.5)

466 (34.2)

 

 50–64

5639 (35.2)

4357 (35.5)

 

4319 (34.0)

3768 (34.9)

 

1315 (40.2)

581 (42.7)

 

 65 and over

2146 (13.4)

1564 (12.8)

 

1734 (13.6)

1324 (12.3)

 

410 (12.5)

238 (17.5)

 

Ethnicity

 Chinese

5203 (32.5)

4674 (38.1)

< 0.001

4344 (34.2)

4183 (38.8)

< 0.001

853 (26.1)

483 (35.5)

< 0.001

 Malay

374 (2.3)

220 (1.8)

 

301 (2.4)

194 (1.8)

 

73 (2.2)

26 (1.9)

 

 Indian

253 (1.6)

149 (1.2)

 

191 (1.5)

123 (1.1)

 

62 (1.9)

26 (1.9)

 

 Korean

6873 (42.9)

5363 (43.7)

 

5245 (41.3)

4739 (43.9)

 

1622 (49.6)

613 (45.0)

 

 Japanese

3182 (19.9)

1782 (14.5)

 

2516 (19.8)

1488 (13.8)

 

642 (19.6)

206 (15.1)

 

 Others

135 (0.8)

72 (0.6)

 

115 (0.9)

64 (0.6)

 

20 (0.6)

8 (0.6)

 

Year of diagnosis

 2000–2005

2171 (13.6)

906 (7.4)

< 0.001

1697 (13.4)

714 (6.6)

< 0.001

466 (14.2)

172 (12.6)

0.002

 2006–2010

6501 (40.6)

3835 (31.3)

 

5069 (39.9)

3286 (30.5)

 

1421 (43.4)

538 (39.5)

 

 2011–2015

7348 (45.9)

7519 (61.3)

 

5946 (46.8)

6791 (62.9)

 

1385 (42.3)

652 (47.9)

 

Histology

 IDCa

14,090 (88.0)

11,043 (90.1)

< 0.001

11,019 (86.7)

9665 (89.6)

< 0.001

3040 (92.9)

1277 (93.8)

0.323

 ILCa

895 (5.6)

688 (5.6)

 

821 (6.5)

654 (6.1)

 

72 (2.2)

32 (2.4)

 

 Others

1035 (6.5)

529 (4.3)

 

872 (6.9)

472 (4.4)

 

160 (4.9)

53 (3.9)

 

T-stage

 T1

8828 (55.1)

6815 (55.6)

0.003

7413 (58.3)

6112 (56.6)

0.002

1392 (42.5)

635 (46.6)

0.100

 T2

6011 (37.5)

4629 (37.8)

 

4472 (35.2)

4008 (37.1)

 

1528 (46.7)

594 (43.6)

 

 T3

719 (4.5)

557 (4.5)

 

528 (4.2)

478 (4.4)

 

189 (5.8)

75 (5.5)

 

 T4

309 (1.9)

167 (1.4)

 

209 (1.6)

131 (1.2)

 

100 (3.1)

30 (2.2)

 

 Othersb

103 (0.6)

58 (0.5)

 

46 (0.4)

30 (0.3)

 

57 (1.7)

27 (2.0)

 

 Unknown

50 (0.3)

34 (0.3)

 

44 (0.4)

32 (0.3)

 

6 (0.2)

1 (0.1)

 

N-stage

 N0

10,412 (65.0)

7679 (62.6)

0.001

8199 (64.5)

6754 (62.6)

0.042

2191 (67.0)

855 (62.8)

0.005

 N1

3865 (24.1)

3101 (25.3)

 

3118 (24.5)

2760 (25.6)

 

735 (22.5)

319 (23.4)

 

 N2

1081 (6.8)

920 (7.5)

 

887 (7.0)

810 (7.5)

 

194 (5.9)

102 (7.5)

 

 N3

647 (4.0)

543 (4.4)

 

494 (3.9)

453 (4.2)

 

151 (4.6)

83 (6.1)

 

 NX

15 (0.1)

17 (0.1)

 

14 (0.1)

14 (0.1)

 

1 (0.0)

3 (0.2)

 

Overall stage

 Stage 1

6782 (42.3)

5217 (42.6)

0.159

5732 (45.1)

4712 (43.7)

0.050

1034 (31.6)

452 (33.2)

0.033

 Stage 2

6881 (43.0)

5154 (42.0)

 

5206 (41.0)

4485 (41.6)

 

1657 (50.6)

636 (46.7)

 

 Stage 3

2357 (14.7)

1889 (15.4)

 

1774 (14.0)

1594 (14.8)

 

581 (17.8)

274 (20.1)

 

ER receptor status

 Positive

12,338 (77.0)

10,578 (86.3)

< .0001

12,338 (97.1)

10,578 (98.0)

< 0.001

0 (–)

0 (–)

-

 Negative

3643 (22.7)

1574 (12.8)

 

371 (2.9)

210 (2.0)

 

3272 (100)

1362 (100)

 

 Unknownc

39 (0.2)

108 (0.9)

 

3 (0.0)

3 (0.0)

 

0 (–)

0 (–)

 

PR receptor status

 Positive

10,832 (67.6)

9296 (75.8)

< 0.001

10,832 (85.2)

9296 (86.2)

0.050

0 (–)

0 (–)

–

 Negative

5136 (32.1)

2853 (23.3)

 

1864 (14.7)

1488 (13.8)

 

3272 (100)

1362 (100)

 

 Unknownb

52 (0.3)

111 (0.9)

 

16 (0.1)

7 (0.1)

 

0 (–)

0 (–)

 

Tumour grade

 Grade 1

3586 (22.4)

2745 (22.4)

< 0.001

3471 (27.3)

2657 (24.6)

< 0.001

104 (3.2)

47 (3.5)

0.028

 Grade 2

6544 (40.9)

5601 (45.7)

 

5882 (46.3)

5277 (48.9)

 

648 (19.8)

291 (21.4)

 

 Grade 3

4879 (30.5)

3219 (26.3)

 

2552 (20.1)

2296 (21.3)

 

2321 (70.9)

914 (67.1)

 

 Unknown

1011 (6.3)

695 (5.7)

 

807 (6.4)

561 (5.2)

 

199 (6.1)

110 (8.1)

 

Received radiotherapyd

Applicable—no

2487 (15.5)

1957 (16.0)

< 0.001

2045 (16.1)

1742 (16.1)

< 0.001

432 (13.2)

189 (13.9)

0.267

Applicable—yes

6302 (39.3)

4114 (33.6)

 

5015 (39.5)

3583 (33.2)

 

1272 (38.9)

495 (36.3)

 

Not applicable

7231 (45.1)

6189 (50.5)

 

5652 (44.5)

5466 (50.7)

 

1568 (47.9)

678 (49.8)

 

Received endocrine therapyc,d

Applicable—no

1214 (7.6)

978 (8.0)

< 0.001

1214 (9.6)

978 (9.1)

0.208

0 (–)

0 (–)

–

Applicable—yes

11,498 (71.8)

9813 (80.0)

 

11,498 (90.5)

9813 (90.9)

 

0 (–)

0 (–)

 

Not applicable

3272 (20.4)

1362 (11.1)

 

0 (–)

0 (–)

 

3272 (100)

1362 (100)

 

Unknown

36 (0.2)

107 (0.9)

 

0 (–)

0 (–)

 

0 (–)

0 (–)

 

Received chemotherapyc,d

Applicable—no

2065 (12.9)

1624 (13.3)

0.677

1760 (13.9)

1446 (13.4)

0.003

296 (9.1)

154 (11.3)

0.048

Applicable—yes

7507 (46.9)

5744 (46.9)

 

5455 (42.9)

4879 (45.2)

 

2041 (62.4)

836 (61.4)

 

Not applicable

5695 (35.6)

4297 (35.1)

 

4925 (38.7)

3959 (36.7)

 

756 (23.1)

287 (21.1)

 

Unknown

753 (4.7)

595 (4.9)

 

572 (4.5)

507 (4.7)

 

179 (5.5)

85 (6.2)

 
  1. a IDC invasive ductal carcinoma, ILC invasive lobular carcinoma
  2. b TX Tis and T0
  3. c Included 4 patients with equivocal test result; combined with an unknown category for analysis due to small sample size
  4. d Patients were deemed applicable for radiotherapy if the N-stage was N1–3, T-stage was T3–4 or they had undergone breast-conserving surgery. They were deemed applicable for endocrine therapy if the tumour was ER- or PR-positive. They were deemed applicable for chemotherapy if the N-stage was N1–3, T-stage was T2–4 or tumour size ≥ 10 mm and had any of following risk factors: Grade 3 tumour, ER-negative or HER2-positive. These criteria were adapted from our previous study [27]