HER2+ Breast Cancer

Substantial clinical trial evidence supports the use of pathologic complete response (pCR) as a measure for evaluating neoadjuvant therapies for patients with HER2-positive breast cancer, suggesting that preoperative treatment should be the standard of care

Sandra M. Swain, MD, Medical Director of the Washington Cancer Institute at MedStar Washington Hospital Center, discusses a taxane's impact on outcomes in patients with HER2-positive metastatic breast cancer.

Recent research has shown that adding targeted agents to trastuzumab-based chemotherapy regimens in the adjuvant setting may not significantly improve outcomes in patients with early-stage HER2-positive breast cancer.

Pertuzumab and trastuzumab plus chemotherapy for the treatment of HER2-positive metastatic breast cancer improved median overall survival (OS) by 15.7 months over standard first-line therapy

A high level of tumor infiltrating lymphocytes (TILs) may be a marker of pathologic complete response (pCR) to neoadjuvant chemotherapy in breast cancer, especially in patients with triple-negative or HER2-positive disease

Dual HER2 blockade with pertuzumab and trastuzumab plus chemotherapy for the treatment of HER2-positive metastatic breast cancer improved median OS by almost 16 months over standard first-line therapy.

Sandra M. Swain, MD, discusses final overall survival analysis from the CLEOPATRA study of first-line pertuzumab, trastuzumab, and docetaxel for the treatment of patients with HER2-positive metastatic breast cancer.

Treatment strategies that incorporate pertuzumab (Perjeta) continue to evolve as more clinical trial data becomes available.

The combination of letrozole with either the CDK4/6 inhibitor LEE011 or the PI3 kinase Inhibitor BYL719 demonstrated clinical activity for women with ER-positive, HER2-negative breast cancer.

Sara Hurvitz, MD, highlights key points on the PIK3CA mutation, and addresses several other key topics in the field of breast cancer.

The addition of trastuzumab to fulvestrant prolonged responses compared with fulvestrant alone for certain patients with metastatic breast cancer.

A novel HER2-derived peptide vaccine designed to stimulate CD8+ cytotoxic T-lymphocytes reduced the rate of breast cancer recurrence and proved safe and well tolerated in the adjuvant setting.

Debu Tripathy, MD, co-leader, Women's Cancer Program, University of Southern California Norris Comprehensive Cancer Center, provides an overview of the SystHERs registry.

Ruth M. O'Regan, MD, director, Translational Breast Cancer Research, professor, hematology and oncology, medical oncology, Winship Cancer Institute, Emory University, discusses updates in the field of adjuvant therapy for HER2-positive breast cancer.

The favorable safety profile of T-DM1 makes it apt to be looked at in other settings of breast cancer.

The ever-evolving treatment landscape for patients with HER2-positive breast cancer leaves several questions unanswered regarding therapeutic sequences and whether an optimal standard of care exists.