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Targeted Therapies for HER2 Breast Cancer: A View of the Landscape

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Abstract

Trastuzumab was first described over 25 years ago and was approved for clinical use a decade ago. Since then, marked improvement in survival in patients with breast cancer has been achieved with use of trastuzumab. There is still room for improvement however, as approximately 40% of patients with HER2-amplified breast cancer do not derive significant benefit from trastuzumab. Furthermore, in patients with advanced disease, most patients who do respond end up developing resistance and progressive recurrent disease. Significant advances have been made in the understanding of acquired resistance to trastuzumab, and a large of number of newer HER2-directed therapies have been rationally developed targeting trastuzumab-resistant disease. Small molecules targeting multiple HER family tyrosine kinases such as lapatinib and neratinib have been the most promising.

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Disclosure

Vishal Rana reports no potential conflict of interest relevant to this article. Ramona F. Swaby reports no potential conflict of interest relevant to this article.

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  1. Department of Medical Oncology, Fox Chase Cancer Center, 333 Cottman Avenue, Philadelphia, PA, 19111-2497, USA

    Vishal Rana & Ramona F. Swaby

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  1. Vishal Rana
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  2. Ramona F. Swaby
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Correspondence to Ramona F. Swaby.

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Rana, V., Swaby, R.F. Targeted Therapies for HER2 Breast Cancer: A View of the Landscape. Curr Breast Cancer Rep 3, 55–62 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12609-010-0037-x

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