Circulating HER-2 mRNA in the peripheral blood as a potential diagnostic and prognostic biomarker in females with breast cancer.

Breast cancer is a prevalent malignant cancer worldwide, and a lack of defined biomarkers for early prognostication contributes to its high associated mortality rate, especially in human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER-2)-positive breast cancer. In the present study, HER-2 mRNA levels in patients were detected prior to surgery and during neoadjuvant chemotherapy to explore its potential diagnostic and prognostic value. Blood samples were collected from 70 patients with breast cancer, including 50 HER-2-negative and 20 HER-2-positive patients, prior to and following surgery (postoperative, n=13; neoadjuvant chemotherapy, n=5); the control group included 35 samples from healthy individuals.