Dr. Yardley on the RESPECT Trial in HER2-Positive Breast Cancer

Denise Yardley, MD, senior investigator, Sarah Cannon Research Institute, discusses the RESPECT trial in HER2-positive breast cancer.

The RESPECT trial looked at patients with HER2-positive disease. It was the first trial that focused on elderly patients, explains Yardley. Patients had to be between 70 and 80 years old with HER2-positive breast cancer. Investigators randomized patients to 1 year of trastuzumab monotherapy (Herceptin) or trastuzumab with chemotherapy. Though the trial failed to meet its primary endpoint, there were few events in both arms, Yardley says.

These results indicate that these patients do well with HER2-targeted therapy. When physicians look at some of the differences, one of the key messages was that elderly patients did well with standard of care chemotherapy plus trastuzumab.

As the differences between groups were small, Yardley says that patients who do not want chemotherapy may receive trastuzumab monotherapy. The expectations are approximately a 3-year disease-free survival of 89%, which is good with just trastuzumab alone, says Yardley. This gives physicians the confidence to administer HER2-targeted therapy alone.