Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Comparative Study
. 2008 Dec;19(12):2020-5.
doi: 10.1093/annonc/mdn427. Epub 2008 Jul 29.

Hormone receptor status and pathologic response of HER2-positive breast cancer treated with neoadjuvant chemotherapy and trastuzumab

F Peintinger  1 , A U Buzdar, H M Kuerer, J A Mejia, C Hatzis, A M Gonzalez-Angulo, L Pusztai, F J Esteva, S S Dawood, M C Green, G N Hortobagyi, W F Symmans
Affiliations
Comparative Study

Hormone receptor status and pathologic response of HER2-positive breast cancer treated with neoadjuvant chemotherapy and trastuzumab

F Peintinger et al. Ann Oncol. 2008 Dec.

Abstract

Background: The aim of this study was to compare the extent of pathologic response in patients with HER2-positive (HER2+) breast cancer treated with standard neoadjuvant chemotherapy, with or without trastuzumab (H), according to hormone receptor (HR) status.

Patients and methods: We included 199 patients with HER2+ breast cancer from three successive cohorts of neo-adjuvant chemotherapy on the basis of paclitaxel (Taxol) (P) administered weekly (w) or three weekly (3-w), followed by 5-fluorouracil (F), doxorubicin (A) or epirubicin (E), and cyclophosphamide (C). Residual cancer burden (RCB) was determined from pathologic review of the primary tumor and lymph nodes and was classified as pathologic complete response (pCR) or minimal (RCB-I), moderate (RCB-II), or extensive (RCB-III) residual disease.

Results: In HR-positive (HR+) cancers, a higher rate of pathologic response (pCR/RCB-I) was observed with concurrent H + 3-wP/FEC (73%) than with 3-wP/FEC (34%, P = 0.002) or wP/FAC (47%; P = 0.02) chemotherapy alone. In HR-negative (HR-) cancers, there were no significant differences in the rate of pathologic response (pCR/RCB-I) from 3-wP/FAC (50%), wP/FAC (68%), or concurrent H + 3-wP/FEC (72%).

Conclusions: Patients with HR+/HER2+ breast cancer obtained significant benefit from addition of trastuzumab to P/FEC chemotherapy; pathologic response rate was similar to that seen in HR-/HER2+ breast cancers.

PubMed Disclaimer

Figures

Figure 1.
Figure 1.
Distribution of residual cancer burden in the neoadjuvant chemotherapy regimens.
Figure 2.
Figure 2.
(A) Distribution of residual cancer burden (RCB) scores (means). (B) RCB scores in hormone receptor-positive status. (C) RCB scores in hormone receptor-negative status.
Figure 3.
Figure 3.
Distribution of residual cancer burden in (A) hormone receptor-positive and (B) hormone receptor-negative cases.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Slamon DJ, Leyland-Jones B, Shak S, et al. Use of chemotherapy plus a monoclonal antibody against HER2 for metastatic breast cancer that overexpresses HER2. N Engl J Med. 2001;344:783–792. - PubMed
    1. Marty M, Cognetti F, Maraninchi D, et al. Randomized phase II trial of the efficacy and safety of trastuzumab combined with docetaxel in patients with human epidermal growth factor receptor 2-positive metastatic breast cancer administered as first-line treatment: the M77001 study group. J Clin Oncol. 2005;23:4265–4274. - PubMed
    1. Buzdar AU, Ibrahim NK, Francis D, et al. Significantly higher pathologic complete remission rate after neoadjuvant therapy with trastuzumab, paclitaxel, and epirubicin chemotherapy: results of a randomized trial in human epidermal growth factor receptor 2-positive operable breast cancer. J Clin Oncol. 2005;23:3676–3685. - PubMed
    1. Buzdar AU, Valero V, Ibrahim NK, et al. Neoadjuvant therapy with paclitaxel followed by 5-fluorouracil, epirubicin, and cyclophosphamide chemotherapy and concurrent trastuzumab in human epidermal growth factor receptor 2-positive operable breast cancer: an update of the initial randomized study population and data of additional patients treated with the same regimen. Clin Cancer Res. 2007;13:228–233. - PubMed
    1. Romond EH, Perez EA, Bryant J, et al. Trastuzumab plus adjuvant chemotherapy for operable HER2-positive breast cancer. N Engl J Med. 2005;353:1673–1684. - PubMed

Publication types

MeSH terms