New Guidelines for HER2-Negative Advanced Breast Cancer

By Kelly Young

Edited by David G. Fairchild, MD, MPH, and Lorenzo Di Francesco, MD, FACP, FHM

The American Society of Clinical Oncology has released new guidelines on managing advanced human epidermal growth factor receptor (HER2)-negative breast cancer. Among the recommendations:

• For most patients with hormone-receptor-positive advanced breast cancer, endocrine treatment should be the first-line therapy.

• Sequential single-agent chemotherapy regimens should be offered, but combination treatments may be given if the disease is immediately life-threatening.

• The use of bevacizumab is controversial given that it improves treatment response but not overall survival when added to single-agent chemotherapy.

• For first-line chemotherapy, taxanes and anthracyclines have the strongest evidence for efficacy.

• Chemotherapy should not at this time be targeted to specific cancer subtypes.