Exploration of Targeted Anti-tumor Therapy

Table 3. Practical decision pathway for response-adaptive biomarker use.

Clinical question	Most relevant tool	Possible action	Caution/evidence status
Is ER expression still functionally present across disease sites?	FES PET/CT, alongside pathology and standard imaging	Support endocrine-based strategy discussion or identify discordant lesion for biopsy.	Most useful when linked to a specific endocrine decision; not a universal biopsy replacement.
Is HER2 expression heterogeneous or converted when tissue is inaccessible?	HER2-targeted PET where available	Prioritise biopsy site or support multidisciplinary treatment discussion.	Exploratory/problem-solving; outcome benefit of PET-directed therapy remains unproven.
Is apparent early progression during ICI therapy true progression?	FDG PET/CT interpreted with immunotherapy-aware criteria	Correlate clinically; consider confirmation imaging in stable patients before changing therapy.	TNBC-specific validation is limited; inflammatory uptake can mislead.
Is early response sufficient to consider adaptation?	FDG PET/CT plus serial ctDNA in predefined protocols	Escalation or surveillance adaptation only within trials or highly selected MDT contexts.	De-escalation is highest risk and requires prospective outcome validation.

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ctDNA: circulating tumour DNA; ER: oestrogen receptor; TNBC: triple-negative breast cancer; HER2: human epidermal growth factor receptor 2; ICI: immune checkpoint inhibitor; PET/CT: positron emission tomography/computed tomography.

Supplementary materials

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Acknowledgments

During the preparation of this work, the authors used ChatGPT (OpenAI) for language editing and to improve clarity and structure of the manuscript. After utilizing the tool, the authors reviewed and edited the content as necessary and take full responsibility for the final content of the publication.

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JZ and JZY: Writing—original draft, Writing—review & editing. Both authors read and approved the submitted version.

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