A new player in the treatment of HER2-positive tumours
Menés au Japon et aux Etats-Unis sur 115 patientes atteintes d'un cancer du sein HER2+ de stade avancé et sur 44 patients atteints d'un cancer gastrique ou de la jonction œsogastrique HER2+ de stade avancé, ces deux essais de phase I évaluent la dose maximale tolérée, l'efficacité, du point de vue de la proportion de patients ayant obtenu une réponse objective, et la toxicité du trastuzumab déruxtécan (un conjugué anticorps-médicament ciblant HER2) dispensé après l'échec de plusieurs traitements (dont un traitement par trastuzumab emtansine chez les patientes atteintes d'un cancer du sein)
HER2 targeting is a remarkable example of how a therapeutic strategy can profoundly transform the natural history of a disease. The monoclonal antibody trastuzumab, the dual HER1 and HER2 inhibitor lapatinib, the monoclonal antibody pertuzumab, and the antibody-drug conjugate trastuzumab emtansine have improved the life expectancy of women with HER2-overexpressing or HER2-amplified (HER2-positive) breast cancer. HER2 targeting has proven effective in other HER2-overexpressing cancers and, in gastric cancer, trastuzumab added to chemotherapy is now a standard first-line treatment. Nevertheless, despite these therapeutic successes, HER2-driven diseases still cause a great deal of morbidity and many deaths each year. For this reason, efforts are ongoing to develop different classes of HER2-targeting compounds to treat resistant disease
The Lancet Oncology , commentaire, 2018