Dual targeting of HER2-positive breast cancer with trastuzumab emtansine and pertuzumab: Understanding clinical trial results

Targeting of HER2-positive tumors with trastuzumab has shown to improve survival in early stage and advanced breast cancer. The addition of pertuzumab, another anti-HER2 antibody, to trastuzumab-containing regimens has demonstrated a modest increase in disease-free survival in the adjuvant setting....

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores: Ocaña, Alberto, Amir, Eitan, Pandiella, Atanasio
Tipo de recurso: artículo
Estado:Versión publicada
Fecha de publicación:2018
País:España
Institución:Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (CSIC)
Repositorio:DIGITAL.CSIC. Repositorio Institucional del CSIC
OAI Identifier:oai:digital.csic.es:10261/244863
Acceso en línea:http://hdl.handle.net/10261/244863
Access Level:acceso abierto
Palabra clave:Breast cancer
HER2
Trastuzumab
Pertuzumab
TDM1
Descripción
Sumario:Targeting of HER2-positive tumors with trastuzumab has shown to improve survival in early stage and advanced breast cancer. The addition of pertuzumab, another anti-HER2 antibody, to trastuzumab-containing regimens has demonstrated a modest increase in disease-free survival in the adjuvant setting. Unexpectedly, when pertuzumab was explored in combination with the antibody-drug conjugate TDM1 in the metastatic setting, no additional benefit was observed compared with dual targeting of HER2 with pertuzumab and trastuzumab, together with chemotherapy. Similar results were observed when exploring pathologic complete response in the neoadjuvant setting. In this article, we discuss basic science and translational data that may explain the limited efficacy observed with the combination of TDM1 and pertuzumab, including tumor heterogeneity, clonal selection, bystander effect or downregulation of the receptor by competitive binding. In addition, we review ongoing studies that could help to understand these findings.