title: Role of ErbB2 in selection for adjuvant tamoxifen or aromatase inhibitors.
abstract: Evaluation of: Rasmussen BB, Regan MM, Lykkesfeldt AE et al.: Adjuvant letrozole versus tamoxifen according to centrally-assessed ERBB2 status for postmenopausal women with endocrine-responsive early breast cancer: supplementary results from the BIG 1-98 randomized trial. Lancet Oncol. 9, 23-28 (2008). This study analysed data after a median of 51 months follow-up from 4922 postmenopausal women with early hormone-sensitive breast cancer randomly assigned to 5 years of treatment with letrozole or tamoxifen. Tumors from 3650 (74%) patients were centrally assessed for estrogen receptor, progesterone receptor and ErbB2 status. By central assessment, 7% (257 of 3650) of tumors were classified as ErbB2-positive. Disease-free survival was significantly worse in patients with ErbB2-positive tumors (p < 0.0001). Letrozole improved disease-free survival compared with tamoxifen regardless of ErbB2 status.
authors.affiliation: Breakthrough Research Unit, Edinburgh Breast Unit, Western General Hospital, Edinburgh EH42XU, UK. jmd@ed.ac.uk
authors.forename: Mr J Michael
authors.initials: MJ
authors.lastname: Dixon