Women with a particularly aggressive form of breast cancer, known as HER2-positive disease, now have unique options that can help tailor their treatment more effectively. Based on results from a phase III clinical trial that followed women for seven years and was conducted at the UNC Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center and other cancer centers nationwide, a new therapeutic roadmap may help clinicians figure out which tumors can be treated less aggressively. The findings were published in the Journal of Clinical Oncology.
Human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2) positivity is found in 15% to 20% of breast cancers. The American Cancer Society predicts nearly 280,000 people in the U.S. will be diagnosed with breast cancer this year. Herceptin (trastuzumab), the first anti-HER2 targeted therapy, was approved by the Food and Drug Administration in 1998 and greatly improved chances of survival in women with HER2-positive disease. However, there are multiple molecular subtypes of HER2-positive breast cancer, each of which responds to treatment differently.
“There is substantial variability in this type of breast cancer from the standpoint of responsiveness to drugs and risk of relapse, so our research helps shine a light on that variability,” said Lisa A. Carey, MD, FASCO, deputy director of clinical science and the Richardson and Marilyn Jacobs Preyer Distinguished Professor in Breast Cancer Research at UNC Lineberger. “In the future, we will not treat every woman in the same manner. This is what precision medicine is about — the right drugs for the right patient, with the corollary of not giving unnecessary drugs to those who don’t need them.”
Read more from the UNC Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center.