Weekly paclitaxel and trastuzumab as a first-line therapy in patients with HER2-overexpressing metastatic breast cancer: magnitude of HER2/neu amplification as a predictive factor for efficacy.
We evaluated the efficacy and safety of weekly paclitaxel plus trastuzumab as first-line chemotherapy in women with HER2-overexpressing metastatic breast cancer (MBC), and we investigated the prognostic factors including magnitude of HER2/neu amplification in this population. We analyzed 54 patients with HER2-overexpressing MBC that were treated with weekly paclitaxel plus trastuzumab as first-line chemotherapy from February 2004 to December 2006. At a median follow-up of 28 months, median time to progression (TTP) was 16.6 months (95% CI, 9.4 to 23.7 months) and median overall survival was 25.6 months (95% CI, 21.8 to 27.3 months). Therapy was generally well tolerated, although three patients (5.5%) experienced reversible, symptomatic heart failure. Of the 27 patients evaluable for the HER2 FISH, patients with a HER2/CEP17 ratio of < or =4.0 had significantly shorter TTP than those with a HER2/CEP17 ratio of >4.0 (10.8 vs. 23.2 months, P=0.034). A HER2/CEP17 ratio of >4.0 was identified as significant predictive factor of TTP by multivariate analysis (P=0.032). The combination of weekly paclitaxel plus trastuzumab as first-line chemotherapy is an effective regimen in patients with HER2-FISH-positive MBC. Furthermore, the magnitude of HER2 amplification is an independent predictive factor of TTP.
Department of Internal Medicine, Seoul National University Hospital, Seoul, Korea.
Hye-Suk
HS
Han
Jin-Soo
JS
Kim
Jin Hyun
JH
Park
Yoon Kyung
YK
Jeon
Keun-Wook
KW
Lee
Do-Youn
DY
Oh
Jee Hyun
JH
Kim
So Yeon
SY
Park
Seock-Ah
SA
Im
Tae-You
TY
Kim
In Ae
IA
Park
Yung-Jue
YJ
Bang
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000911:Antibodies, Monoclonal / Q000008:administration & dosage* / Q000627:therapeutic use; D061067:Antibodies, Monoclonal, Humanized; D000971:Antineoplastic Combined Chemotherapy Protocols / Q000008:administration & dosage* / Q000627:therapeutic use; D001943:Breast Neoplasms / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000401:mortality / Q000473:pathology; D018450:Disease Progression; D004334:Drug Administration Schedule; D005260:Female; D005784:Gene Amplification; D006801:Humans; D017404:In Situ Hybridization, Fluorescence; D008875:Middle Aged; D017239:Paclitaxel / Q000008:administration & dosage* / Q000627:therapeutic use; D011237:Predictive Value of Tests; D018719:Erb-b2 Receptor Tyrosine Kinases / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism; D016019:Survival Analysis; D000068878:Trastuzumab
D000911:Antibodies, Monoclonal; D061067:Antibodies, Monoclonal, Humanized; D017239:Paclitaxel; D018719:Erb-b2 Receptor Tyrosine Kinases; D000068878:Trastuzumab