New therapy for early metastatic breast cancer
The phase 3 clinical trial DESTINY-06 showed that the antibody conjugate trastuzumab deruxtecan provided improved progression-free survival compared with chemotherapy.
Researchers are considering the use of trastuzumab deruxtecan in the early stages of treatment of metastatic breast cancer. Photo: Shutterstock.
Treatment Cancer metastatic hormone receptor-positive (RH+) breast cancer with low or ultra-low HER2 protein levels has undergone a significant turnaround with recent results from the phase 3 clinical trial DESTINY-06.
This study showed that the conjugated antibody trastuzumab deruxtecan (T-DXd) is more effective than chemotherapy traditional, providing patients with longer progression-free survival, that is, a longer period without tumor progression.
He Cancer Breast cancer continues to be the most common disease in the world, with 2.3 million cases diagnosed in 2023. Given this scenario, advances in therapies targeting specific tumor characteristics, such as the HER2 protein, are essential to improve patients’ quality of life.
The DESTINY-06 study included 866 patients with Cancer HR+ metastatic breast cancer with low HER2 levels who have already received one or more courses of endocrine therapy, but without chemotherapy former.
The study results show that those who received trastuzumab deruxtecan had a 38% reduction in the risk of disease progression compared with those who received trastuzumab deruxtecan. chemotherapy standard. Specifically, median progression-free survival was 13.2 months in the T-DXd group compared with 8.1 months in the T-DXd group. chemotherapy.
New treatment for patients considered unreachable for targeted therapy
Dr. Cristina Saura, director Cancer from the University Hospital Val d’Hebron and co-author of the study, says these results are significant: “We know tumors better and better and have seen that among breast tumors classified as HER2-negative, there is a range of expression of this protein considered low or ultra-low. For these tumors, already approved drugs that give good results in HER2+ tumors can be used.
This discovery opens up new treatment options for patients previously thought to be inaccessible to anti-HER2 therapies and, until recently, limited to patients with high expression of the protein.
Data from this clinical trial suggest that even patients with low HER2 levels may respond better to targeted treatments such as T-DXd compared with chemotherapy traditional.
Previously treated for low HER2
Given the success of these studies, researchers are considering introducing trastuzumab deruxtecan earlier in treatment. Cancer metastatic breast. “We think more patients who are HER2-negative may benefit from HER2-targeted treatments earlier in their disease treatment,” Dr. Saura explained.
The results of the DESTINY-06 study support this hypothesis, showing that the conjugated antibody may provide better results than chemotherapy from more initial phases in patients with low or ultra-low HER2.
Although this new indication has not yet been approved by regulatory authorities for widespread use in Spain, the study opens the door to future treatment options that could change the management of patients with Cancer metastatic breast cancer and low HER2 levels.
Source consulted here.