title: HER2-positive breast cancer.
abstract: Anti-HER2 treatment for HER2-positive breast cancer has changed the natural biology of this disease. This Series article reviews the main achievements so far in the treatment of both metastatic and early HER2-positive breast cancer. The success of neoadjuvant therapy in HER2-positive early breast cancer is especially acknowledged, as pertuzumab has been approved on the basis of a higher proportion of patients achieving a pathological complete response with pertuzumab and trastuzumab than with trastuzumab alone in a neoadjuvant study. Event-free survival after the confirmatory adjuvant trial completed recruitment was numerically better with pertuzumab plus trastuzumab than with trastuzumab alone. With survival rates of almost 5 years in women with metastatic HER2-positive breast cancer and 75% of patients achieving a pathological complete response, new treatments in the past decade have clearly improved the prognosis of HER2-positive breast cancer. Despite these achievements, however, the persisting high toll of deaths resulting from HER2-positive breast cancer calls for continued, intensive clinical research of newer therapies and combinations.
authors.affiliation: German Breast Group, c/o GB Forschungs GmbH, Neu-Isenburg, Germany. Electronic address: sibylle.loibl@gbg.de.
authors.forename: Sibylle
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Loibl
authors.affiliation: San Raffaele Hospital Scientific Institute, Milan, Italy.
authors.forename: Luca
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Gianni
mesh_terms: D000080044:Ado-Trastuzumab Emtansine; D000074322:Antineoplastic Agents, Immunological / Q000627:therapeutic use; D000971:Antineoplastic Combined Chemotherapy Protocols / Q000627:therapeutic use; D001943:Breast Neoplasms / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000188:drug therapy*; D066246:ErbB Receptors / Q000502:physiology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008453:Maytansine / Q000031:analogs & derivatives / Q000627:therapeutic use; D058990:Molecular Targeted Therapy / Q000379:methods; D020360:Neoadjuvant Therapy / Q000379:methods; D009362:Neoplasm Metastasis; D018719:Erb-b2 Receptor Tyrosine Kinases / Q000032:analysis* / Q000037:antagonists & inhibitors; D000068878:Trastuzumab / Q000627:therapeutic use
chemical_list: D000080044:Ado-Trastuzumab Emtansine; D000074322:Antineoplastic Agents, Immunological; D066246:ErbB Receptors; D008453:Maytansine; D018719:Erb-b2 Receptor Tyrosine Kinases; D000068878:Trastuzumab; C512478:EGFR protein, human; C508053:ERBB2 protein, human