Each year, the CTRC-AACR San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium attracts academic and private physicians and researchers, as well as other health care professionals focused on curing breast cancer, to discuss and learn about new and late-breaking research including experimental biology, etiology, prevention, diagnosis, and therapy of breast cancer and pre-malignant breast disease, as well as new findings from clinical trials. Courtesy of the American Association for Cancer Research

A combination of lapatinib, trastuzumab and paclitaxel significantly improved tumor response rates than either agent alone among patients with HER2-positive breast cancers, according to data presented at the 33rd Annual CTRC-AACR San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium, held Dec. 8-12.

The combination of pertuzumab and trastuzumab had superior antitumor activity in women with early HER2-positive breast cancer, according to Phase II study results of the NeoSphere neoadjuvant trial. Details of these study results were presented at the 33rd Annual CTRC-AACR San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium, held Dec. 8-12.



San Antonio, USA - December 10, 2010

A combination of lapatinib, trastuzumab and paclitaxel significantly improved tumor response rates than either agent alone among patients with HER2-positive breast cancers, according to data presented at the 33rd Annual CTRC-AACR San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium, held Dec. 8-12.
Full results were presented at the symposium during a press briefing on Dec. 10, 2010, at 8:00 a.m. CT.

Lead researcher José Baselga, M.D., Ph.D., chief of the division of hematology and oncology and associate director of the Massachusetts General Hospital Cancer Center, said early data indicate a 50 percent rate of pathological complete remission compared with 20 percent for either agent alone.

José Baselga, MD, PhD Courtesy of the MGH Cancer Center

“This study suggests that a dual blockade against HER2 is an efficient way to target HER2-positive breast tumors and that lapatinib adds to trastuzumab. While further research is ongoing, our results indicate that we are on the right track to improve the therapy of HER2-positive disease,” said Baselga, who is also a founding editor-in-chief of the AACR’s newest journal Cancer Discovery, along with Lewis C. Cantley, Ph.D.

These results are from the NeoALTTO Trial, an international, multicenter, randomized study comparing the efficacy of lapatinib plus paclitaxel vs. trastuzumab plus paclitaxel vs. a combination of all three agents as neoadjuvant chemotherapy among 455 patients with HER2-positive breast cancer.

“It has been suggested in basic science research and smaller clinical trials that the combination of these therapies would be more effective than either alone, but this is the first time it has been shown in a large clinical trial setting,” said Baselga.

At the symposium, Baselga presented the primary outcome of tumor rate after surgery, as well as the secondary outcomes of objective response rate, safety, pathologic node-negative status, rate of conversion to breast conservation, disease-free survival and overall survival.

Pertuzumab and Trastuzumab Combination Improved Efficacy for Women With HER2-positive Breast Cancer

San Antonio, USA - December 10, 2010

The combination of pertuzumab and trastuzumab had superior antitumor activity in women with early HER2-positive breast cancer, according to Phase II study results of the NeoSphere neoadjuvant trial.

Details of these study results were presented at the 33rd Annual CTRC-AACR San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium, held Dec. 8-12.

“The findings establish that the addition of pertuzumab to trastuzumab and the chemotherapy drug docetaxel has an impressive rate of tumor eradication (46 percent), which is 50 percent more than achieved with docetaxel and trastuzumab, the standard therapy,” said Luca Gianni, M.D., director of medical oncology at the Fondazione IRCCS Istituto Tumori di Milano.

Luca Gianni, MD Courtesy of the Fondazione IRCCS Istituto Nazionale dei Tumori

“In addition, the combination of trastuzumab and pertuzumab without chemotherapy is capable of eradicating the tumor in a remarkable fraction of cases (17 percent) without any of the toxicities commonly seen with chemotherapy,” Gianni said.

NeoSphere is a randomized trial that tested the efficacy of the new HER2-directed monoclonal antibody pertuzumab in combination with trastuzumab with or without chemotherapy.

The trial included 417 women; all participants received four cycles of therapy before they underwent surgery, or as neoadjuvant therapy.

The results showed that combining pertuzumab with trastuzumab might offer improved efficacy to women with early HER2-positive breast cancer, according to Gianni.

Additionally, a small percentage of tumors could be treated and eventually cured without chemotherapy.

“The most important result of the study is that a relatively small neoadjuvant trial of short duration can rapidly provide data that better outline the value of different new strategies and shape the approach to further and much larger adjuvant studies,” Gianni said.

Investigators are working on a follow-up, adjuvant randomized trial with pertuzumab added to trastuzumab and chemotherapy.

They are also conducting several molecular analyses aimed at improving the ability to predict benefit or failure and permit greater focus on personalized treatment of HER2-positive breast cancer.

The 33rd annual CTRC-AACR San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium

Follow the AACR on Twitter @AACR, and throughout the meeting using the hash tag #SABCS.

Recordings of the teleconferences and video interviews with researchers will be posted to the AACR website throughout the meeting:
www.aacr.org/page23506.aspx  

The mission of the CTRC-AACR San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium is to produce a unique and comprehensive scientific meeting that encompasses the full spectrum of breast cancer research, facilitating the rapid translation of new knowledge into better care for breast cancer patients.

The Cancer Therapy & Research Center (CTRC) at The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio, the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) and Baylor College of Medicine are joint sponsors of the San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium.

This collaboration utilizes the clinical strengths of the CTRC and Baylor, and the AACR’s scientific prestige in basic, translational and clinical cancer research to expedite the delivery of the latest scientific advances to the clinic.

The 33rd annual symposium is expected to draw nearly 9,000 participants from more than 90 countries.


Contact Media:

Jeremy Moore
(267) 646-0557
jeremy.moore@aacr.org

In San Antonio, Dec. 8-12:
(210) 582-7036


SOURCE:
http://www.aacr.org/  

http://www.aacr.org/home/public--media/aacr-press-releases.aspx?d=2222  
http://www.aacr.org/home/public--media/aacr-press-releases.aspx?d=2246  


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