Author Interviews, Breast Cancer, JAMA / 25.04.2016
Biomarker Defines Subgroup of HER2-positive Breast Cancers Resistant to Herceptin
MedicalResearch.com Interview with:
Sherene Loi, MBBS(Hons), FRACP, PhD
Associate Professor, University of Melbourne
Consultant Medical Oncologist, Breast Unit
Head, Translatonal Breast Cancer Genomics and Therapeutics Lab
Cancer Council Victoria John Colebatch Fellow
Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre, East Melbourne
Victoria, Australia
MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings?
Dr. Loi: Even though HER2 amplification/overexpression is such a strong oncogenic driver in breast cancer, clinical and biological heterogeneity is still evident. Our study was performed to investigate the hypothesis that a subgroup of patients with ER-positive, HER2-positive primary breast cancers seem to have lower responses to anti-HER2 therapy, in this case trastuzumab (trade name Herceptin), and we could better identify this group using both ER and HER2 levels. Our study was designed to try to better define this group so we could potentially evaluate the efficacy of future treatment strategies in this group, particularly as combination anti-HER2 therapy (i.e. trastuzumab and pertuzumab) is currently being investigated in the adjuvant setting.
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