Which Breast Cancer Patients Should Receive Pertuzumab?

HER2 expression identifies patients most likely to benefit from adding pertuzumab to trastuzumab-based regimens.

The CLEOPATRA study (N Engl J Med 2012; 366:109) demonstrated that the addition of pertuzumab to trastuzumab plus docetaxel was superior to trastuzumab and docetaxel in HER2-positive, metastatic breast cancer. At the 2014 Congress of the European Society of Medical Oncology, Swain and colleagues provided longer-term data showing very significant improvements in progression-free survival (PFS) and overall survival in patients treated with the triplet (dual anti-HER2) therapy in the CLEOPATRA trial. However, combination anti-HER2 therapy also substantially increases the cost of treatment. Consequently, efforts to discover biomarkers that identify patients most likely to benefit from combination therapy are important.

To that end, investigators…

Reviewing Author

William J. Gradishar, MD

Disclosures

Consultant/Advisory BoardLilly; AstraZeneca; Gilead

Grant/Research SupportBreast Cancer Research Foundation

Editorial BoardsClinical Breast Cancer; Oncology; Annals of Surgery; Breast Cancer Research and Treatment

Leadership Positions in Professional SocietiesNational Comprehensive Cancer Network (Chair, Breast Cancer Panel); American Board of Internal Medicine (Medical Oncology Board)