Dr. Hamilton on Research Needed in HER2-Positive Breast Cancer

Erika P. Hamilton, MD, director, Breast and Gynecologic Cancer Research Program, principal investigator, Sarah Cannon Research Institute, discusses necessary research oncologists should begin conducting in the space of HER2-positive breast cancer.

In the neoadjuvant setting, researchers need to best determine which patients with HER2-positive disease will respond to novel compounds, such as T-DM1. For example, results of the phase IIII KRISTINE trial demonstrated that there was a lower pathological complete response (pCR) rate in patients who were treated with trastuzumab emtansine (T-DM1) in combination with pertuzumab (Perjeta) versus docetaxel, carboplatin, and trastuzumab plus pertuzumab (TCH+P). Hamilton hypothesizes that these findings were due to some patients not being truly dependent on the HER2 pathway; therefore, they benefited less from T-DM1.

More research needs to be conducted to predict response to specific agents, and in what sequence they should be administered, she adds.