There’s new hope for patients with HER2-positive breast cancer
FOLLOWING the success of trastuzumab, Roche brings the latest innovations in the treatment of HER2-positive breast cancer, namely pertuzumab and trastuzumab emtansine (T-DM1), which can provide new hope for women to continue to have options when the disease gets worse.
Dr. Kimberly Blackwell, professor of medicine and assistant professor of Radiation Oncology at Duke University Medical Center in Durham, North Carolina, discussed the latest innovation and how it translates to better survival for patients with HER2-positive advanced breast cancer during the HER2 Innovation Meeting hosted by Roche (Phils) Inc., with the Philippine Society of Medical Oncology.
Pertuzumab is the first in a new class HER2 dimerization inhibitor. It works synergistically with trastuzumab to block cancer cell survival and growth signals, specifically targeting the HER2 receptor. The combination of pertuzumab and trastuzumab treatments yield longer overall survival in patients with HER2-positive breast cancer.
Another innovation from Roche is HER2 franchise or T-DM1 for women with previously treated HER2-positive advanced breast cancer (second line setting). T-DM1 is a type of medicine called an antibody-drug conjugate and it connects two anti-cancer properties: the HER2 inhibition of trastuzumab and the cytotoxic chemotherapy, DM1.
Dr. Mark Sliwkowski, staff scientist in Research Oncology at Genentech Research and Early Development Organization in the US who copresented with Blackwell, talked about the science and long path behind these innovations. The key to treatment of HER2-positive breast cancer is to understand the HER-ErbB signaling network and why it signals certain tumors.
The ultimate goal for HER2 is to silence the HER2 signaling to the greatest extent possible, in order to prevent the further spread and recurrence of cancer that has too many copies of the HER2 protein.
