HER2+ Breast Cancer

Douglas Yee, MD, explains current treatment options and ongoing research aimed at optimizing neoadjuvant therapy for HER2-positive breast cancer.

Fred C. Kass, MD, oncology/hematology, internal medicine, Cancer Center of Santa Barbara, gives advice for community-based oncologists regarding HER2 testing and interpretation of the results.

PIK3CA mutations and low/no expression of PTEN correlated with an extension in progression-free survival for patients with metastatic HER2-positive breast cancer treated with the combination of everolimus, trastuzumab, and paclitaxel.

Chemotherapy-free neoadjuvant treatment with trastuzumab emtansine demonstrated a pathological complete response rate of 40.5% in patients with HER2+ and HR+ early breast cancer.

Ruth M. O'Regan, MD, discusses two of her studies in HER2-positive breast cancer presented at ASCO 2015.

Francisco J. Esteva, MD, PhD, professor, Department of Medicine, associate director, Clinical Investigation Perlmutter Cancer Center, director, Breast Medical Oncology Program, NYU Langone Medical Center, discusses the efficacy of T-DM1 in patients with HER2-positive breast cancer.

Treatment with neratinib immediately following adjuvant trastuzumab plus chemotherapy modestly improved invasive disease-free survival against placebo at the cost of low-grade diarrhea in almost all patients with HER2-positive early-stage breast cancer.

In the phase III PALOMA-3 trial, adding palbociclib to standard fulvestrant more than doubled progression-free survival in pretreated patients with HR-positive, HER2-negative breast cancer.

In a recent interview with AJHO, Sara A. Hurvitz, MD, discusses the evolving treatment paradigm of HER2-positive breast cancer and what the future might hold.

Mark D. Pegram, MD, director, Breast Cancer Oncology Program, Stanford Cancer Institute, discusses contemporary sequencing of therapies for HER2-positive breast cancer.

As the field evolves, it is likely that HER2-directed agents will be used to an increasing extent instead of conventional chemotherapy, further reducing toxicity.

By targeting the HER2 protein's ability to transform cells, therapies such as trastuzumab (Herceptin) and pertuzumab (Perjeta) have significantly extended the survival of women with HER2-positive breast cancer. However, major treatment challenges still remain for this breast cancer subtype, according to Ruth Lupu, PhD, professor of Laboratory Medicine and Pathology at Mayo Clinic.

OncLive spoke with Elizabeth A. Mittendorf, MD, PhD, to learn more about the PRESENT trial and the potential impact of nelipepimut-S in breast cancer.