HER2+ Breast Cancer

Cardiac events associated with trastuzumab are mostly reversible and outweighed by significant extensions in OS and PFS for patients with HER2-positive breast cancer, according to analyses from several clinical trials exploring the drug.

Adam M. Brufsky, MD, PhD, discusses the effect of prior trastuzumab on eribulin mesylate in combination with trastuzumab as first-line treatment for HER2-positive locally recurrent or metastatic breast cancer.

Robert L. Kirkman, MD, President and CEO, Oncothyreon, discusses the evaluation of ONT-380, an oral HER2-specific inhibitor, for the treatment of patents with HER2-positive metastatic breast cancer.

Charles M. Perou, PhD, discusses a trial (CALGB 40601) presented at the 2014 ASCO Annual Meeting that analyzed gene expression signatures in patients with HER2-positive breast cancer treated with weekly paclitaxel and trastuzumab with or without lapatinib.

A dual HER2-blockade strategy that added lapatinib to trastuzumab for the adjuvant treatment of women with early breast cancer failed to demonstrate a significant improvement in DFS over the standard therapy with trastuzumab alone.

More recently, researchers seek to understand the mechanisms related to tumor dissemination in hopes of therapeutically targeting this process.

Fresh insights into outcomes for patients with low-risk, HER2-positive breast cancer suggest that adjuvant chemotherapy regimens with or without trastuzumab (Herceptin) should be considered as options for managing this growing population

Debu Tripathy, MD, co-leader, Women's Cancer Program, University of Southern California Norris Comprehensive Cancer Center, discusses advances in the treatment of metastatic breast cancer.

Sunil Verma, MD, MSEd, FRCPC, associate professor, University of Toronto, chair, Breast Medical Oncology, Sunnybrook Odette Cancer Centre, discusses targeting HER2 in early-stage breast cancer.

The recent approval of pertuzumab as part of a combination neoadjuvant treatment for patients with early-stage breast cancer has paved the way for wider use of the regimen in preoperative settings.

Breast cancer patients whose chemotherapy is initiated >60 days following surgery experience worse survival outcomes

Now that targeted therapies are available for the treatment of various subtypes of breast cancer, and many novel agents are under investigation, it is important for the oncology community to follow the latest advancements to give patients the best available options.

Human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2)-positive disease accounts for 20% to 25% of breast cancers, as represented by amplification of the HER2 gene and/or HER2 protein overexpression

The benefits of trastuzumab, pertuzumab, lapatinib, and ado-trastuzumab emtansine (T-DM1) have all been well studied, but each drug also has its own set of complications and toxicities.

The first-line combination of trastuzumab and eribulin mesylate demonstrated an ORR of 71.2% with a median PFS of 11.6 months in patients with HER2-positive advanced breast cancer.

Sunil Verma, MD, MSEd, FRCPC, associate professor, University of Toronto, chair, Breast Medical Oncology, Sunnybrook Odette Cancer Centre, provides an outlook on the treatment of HER2-positive breast cancer.

Since its approval in 1998 to treat metastatic breast cancer, the anti-HER2 monoclonal antibody trastuzumab has dramatically expanded life expectancy and improved quality of life for women diagnosed with HER2-positive disease.