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Trastuzumab, pertuzumab, and docetaxel: CLEOPATRA
Use of trastuzumab and pertuzumab—anti-HER2 monoclonal antibodies with docetaxel as a first-line therapy survival for patients with HER2-positive metastatic breast cancer, according to a new study.
HER2 overexpression occurs in 20% of breast cancers, leading to a more aggressive phenotype and poor prognosis. Although trastuzumab substantially improves outcome, patients ultimately die from disease progression.
In the CLinical Evaluation Of Pertuzumab and TRAstuzumab (CLEOPATRA) study, 808 patients with HER2-overexpressing metastatic breast cancer were randomly assigned to trastuzumab, pertuzumab, and docetaxel or to trastuzumab and docetaxel. Median progression-free survival (PFS) was 18·5 months in the group given additional pertuzumab versus 12·4 months in the docetaxel and trastuzumab group (HR for progression 0·62, 95% CI 0·51–0·75; p<0·001). Interim analysis also showed better overall survival in the three-drug group. The incidences of diarrhoea, rash, febrile neutropenia, mucosal inflammation, and dry skin were more common in the three-drug group than in the two-drug group, but no difference was noted in cardiac toxicities.
“The improvement in independently assessed PFS from 12·4 to 18·5 months in pertuzumab group is very impressive.This is huge and is the best PFS published in the history of HER2-positive advanced breast cancer”,comments lead investigator José Baselga (Boston, MA, USA).
Neil L Spector (Duke University School of Medicine, Durham, NC, USA) says:“The study underscores the power of using scientific rationale to drive smart clinical development. [The] CLEOPATRA investigators realised that trastuzumab does not effectively block HER2 dimerisation and therefore examined the impact of adding pertuzumab, which was designed to interfere with the ability of HER2 to dimerise with other HER receptors”.
“The result is extraordinary and provides a huge step forward towards converting HER2-positive metastatic breast cancer into manageable chronic condition”, he adds.
Most patients had not had prior trastuzumab treatment so how these findings translate to today’s practice remains to be clarified. “For patients meeting the eligibility criteria, this [study] is clearly practice changing”, said C Kent Osbourne (Houston, TX, USA), the discussant of the data when they were presented at the 2011 San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium.
Sharan Prakash Sharma
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