Updates on HER2-positive breast cancer

HER2-positive breast cancer accounts for 15-20% of all breast cancer cases. It was associated with a poor prognosis until the approval of trastuzumab, a monoclonal antibody targeting HER2. Since then, the therapeutic landscape for patients with HER2-positive tumors has changed dramatically, with the introduction of other monoclonal antibodies such as pertuzumab, tyrosine kinase inhibitors including lapatinib and neratinib, and the antibody-drug conjugate trastuzumab emtansine (T-DM1). Currently, patients with HER2-positive breast cancer are treated with a taxane plus trastuzumab in the first-line setting and with T-DM1 in second-line. Several treatments are emerging as viable options for the third-line setting and beyond. Nevertheless, recent highly promising data from clinical trials investigating novel triple combinations such as tucatinib+trastuzumab+capecitabine, and trastuzumab deruxtecan (T-DXd), an antibody-drug conjugate, has already started reshaping standard of care treatments for HER2-positive breast cancer. In this exclusive podcast, Rupert Bartsch, MD, of Medical University Vienna, Vienna, Austria, Javier Cortés, MD, PhD, Vall d’Hebron University Hospital, Barcelona, Spain, and Wolfgang Janni, MD, PhD, of Ulm University, Ulm, Germany, discuss the latest research updates in HER2-positive breast cancer therapy, sharing data from the practice-changing HER2CLIMB (NCT02614794) and DESTINY-Breast03 (NCT03529110) trials.