Therapeutic options for breast cancer with low HER2/NEU expression
Chovgan O.E.1, Samuseva A.A.1, Lyalkin S.A.2
- 1P.L. Shupyk National Healthcare University of Ukraine, Kyiv, Ukraine
- 2Nonprofit Organization National Cancer Institute, Kyiv, Ukraine
Summary. High morbidity and mortality rates for breast cancer prompt the search for new therapeutic approaches that would improve the oncological outcomes of treatment for this patient cohort. The study of molecular genetic and immunohistochemical markers is a priority in many clinical studies of breast cancer. In recent years, in addition to the usual HER2-positive and HER2-negative subtypes, a separate subtype of breast cancer has been identified — HER2-low. This subtype includes about 40–50% of breast cancer cases that were previously considered HER2-negative. Studies indicate that HER2-low breast cancer more often belongs to the luminal subtypes and differs in terms of disease progression and prognosis. Today, HER2-low status is considered not as «negative» but as a separate predictive marker of the disease, and therefore such patients require different treatment approaches. An innovative group of targeted drugs are antibody-drug conjugates, which deliver cytostatic drugs specifically to cells that express HER2. One of the newest representatives of this group of drugs, trastuzumab deruxtecan, has demonstrated high efficacy in this group of patients and is recommended for the treatment of inoperable or metastatic breast cancer with low HER2/Neu levels.
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