Impact of low versus negative estrogen/progesterone receptor status on clinico-pathologic characteristics and survival outcomes in HER2-negative breast cancer

Triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) is classically defined by estrogen receptor (ER) and progesterone receptor (PR) immunohistochemistry expression <1% and absence of HER2 amplification/overexpression. HER2-negative breast cancer with low ER/PR expression (1–10%) has a gene expression profile similar to TNBC; however, real-world treatment patterns, chemotherapy response, endocrine therapy benefit, and survival outcomes for the Low-ER group are not well known. 516 patients with stage I-III HER2-negative breast cancer and ER/PR expression ≤10% who were enrolled in a multisite prospective registry between 2011 and 2019 were categorized on the basis of ER/PR expression. TNBC (ER and PR < 1%) and Low-ER (ER and/or PR 1–10%) groups comprised 87.4% (n = 451) and 12.6% (n = 65) of patients, respectively. Demographic, clinical, and treatment characteristics, including prevalence of germline BRCA1/2 mutation, racial and ethnic distribution, and chemotherapy use were not different between TNBC and Low-ER groups. No difference was observed in recurrence-free survival (RFS) and overall survival (OS) between TNBC and Low-ER groups (3-year RFS 82.5% versus 82.4%, respectively, p = 0.728; 3-year OS 88.0% versus 83.4%, respectively, p = 0.632). Among 358 patients receiving neoadjuvant chemotherapy, rates of pathologic complete response were similar for TNBC and Low-ER groups (49.2% vs 51.3%, respectively, p = 0.808). The HER2-negative Low-ER group is often excluded from TNBC clinical trials assessing novel treatments (immunotherapy and antibody-drug conjugates), thus limiting efficacy data for newer effective therapies in this group. Given that HER2-negative Low-ER disease displays clinical characteristics and outcomes similar to TNBC, inclusion of this group in TNBC clinical trials is encouraged.