Paolo Tarantino, Clinical Research Fellow at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, shared on X:
“There was a time when treating HER2+ breast cancer was relatively simple. That time is over. And that’s great news!
Not long ago, we recommended TCHP for most patients with stage II–III disease, and THP (CLEOPATRA) for those with metastatic disease.
Straightforward. Almost one-size-fits-all. Within just a few years, that simplicity is gone. And that’s progress.
More opportunities to spare unnecessary toxicity, tailor treatments to patients’ preferences, and move beyond rigid algorithms. To be more doctors.
In early-stage disease, options now range from de-escalated THP to intensified regimens such as DB11. In metastatic disease, T-DXd/P has achieved unprecedented PFS (>3 years in the 1L setting!), with novel maintenance strategies (palbociclib or tucatinib) potentially pushing the bar even higher.
Meanwhile, biomarkers are finally coming of age, from imaging to tissue and plasma. What an era to be treating HER2+ breast cancer!
But more options also mean more complexity. For oncologists, and especially for patients. More knowledge needed, more discussions, more decisions to make. How do we navigate this increasingly complex landscape and choose the right treatment for the right patient?
We tried to offer some guidance in our new review recently published in Nature Reviews Clinical Oncology.”
Title: Right-sizing treatment for HER2-positive breast cancer: evolving algorithms across the disease continuum
Authors: Paolo Tarantino, Carmine Valenza, Elia Segui, Nancy U. Lin, Aleix Prat, Giuseppe Curigliano, Adrienne G. Waks, Sara M. Tolaney
You can also read:
CLEOPATRA Trial: The Study That Changed HER2-Positive Metastatic Breast Cancer Forever
