Trastuzumab for HER2-Positive Breast Cancer

In these randomized studies of women with nonmetastatic disease, those who received adjuvant chemotherapy plus trastuzumab had a better chance of 2-year disease-free survival than did those who received adjuvant chemotherapy alone.

Breast cancers with amplification or overexpression of the human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2) are particularly aggressive. Trastuzumab (Herceptin), a monoclonal antibody against HER2, has been shown to benefit patients with HER2-positive metastatic breast cancer. Now, researchers report outcomes from three randomized studies of adjuvant therapy with trastuzumab, involving nearly 7000 women with HER2-positive tumors and no evidence of distant metastases. Most patients had one or more positive axillary nodes. All patients underwent surgery, and most had radiation therapy.

Key findings were:

In a comparison between adjuvant chemotherapy alone and adjuvant chemotherapy followed by a 1-year course of trastuzumab (given intravenously o…

Reviewing Author

Allan S. Brett, MD