NEW ORLEANS (Reuters) - Researchers said on Sunday they halted a breast cancer study of patients who received Herceptin as part of their pre-surgery chemotherapy after many patients’ tumors completely disappeared.
Dr. Aman Buzdar, professor of breast medical oncology at M. D. Anderson, reported at the American Society of Clinical Oncology meeting that more than 65 percent of early stage HER-2 positive patients completely responded to the treatment compared with 26 percent of patients with similar tumor types who received chemotherapy only.
Researchers are revising the trial so all M. D. Anderson patients diagnosed with early stage, HER-2 positive tumors receive Herceptin, a drug made by Genentech Inc., plus chemotherapy prior to surgery.
Although the tumors shrank or virtually disappeared during the study, the breast still had to be treated surgically.
About 25 to 30 percent of all breast cancer patients have tumors that are HER-2 positive, a genetic marker that can signal a poor prognosis due to high risk of recurrence and a decreased sensitivity to chemotherapy.
Buzdar said in a statement that he and his research team started the study more than two years ago to show that Herceptin plus chemotherapy could go beyond extending survival and controlling disease in patients with advanced or aggressive breast cancer.
Buzdar said patients received epirubicin as one of the chemotherapy drugs to offset heart damage that could be caused by Herceptin. Fevers or an abnormal drop in white blood cells were also experienced by a small number of patients.
Future trials may look at a larger group of patients and look closely at the effect the treatment may have on surgery after chemotherapy, Buzdar said.
MeSH Headings:Breast Neoplasms: Neoplasms: Neoplasms by Site: DiseasesCopyright © 2002 Reuters Limited. All rights reserved. Republication or redistribution of Reuters content, including by framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Reuters. Reuters shall not be liable for any errors or delays in the content, or for any actions taken in reliance thereon. Reuters and the Reuters sphere logo are registered trademarks and trademarks of the Reuters group of companies around the world.