Adjuvant trastuzumab without chemotherapy did not meet the primary endpoint of noninferiority.
A common dilemma clinicians face is how to optimize therapy for older patients with breast cancer. The optimal adjuvant therapies for HER2+ disease include HER2-directed therapy (trastuzumab alone or with pertuzumab) combined with chemotherapy, and either combination chemotherapy or monotherapy with a taxane. However, a no-chemotherapy option with HER2 therapy alone has never been validated for this group.
To address this issue, investigators in Japan conducted an open-label, noninferiority, randomized, controlled trial (RESPECT), in which 275 patients aged 70 to 80 years (mean age, 73.5) who had surgically treated HER2+ breast cancer were assigned to trastuzumab therapy alone or with chemotherapy (paclitaxel; docetaxel; or cyclophosphamide,…
Reviewing Author
DisclosuresConsultant/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)
DisclosuresConsultant/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)