Over a notable duration of nearly 11 years, a study just published in The Lancet, confirms that the combination therapy of adjuvant paclitaxel and trastuzumab significantly improves long-term survival in patients with small, node-negative, HER2-positive breast cancer.
Furthermore, the HER2DX genomic tool emerges as a promising method for refining patient prognosis, highlighting its potential in tailoring treatment strategies over this extended period.
The study aimed to evaluate the effectiveness of a combination therapy using paclitaxel and trastuzumab in treating patients with a particular type of breast cancer that is small in size, has not spread to the lymph nodes, and is positive for a protein called HER2. It also explored the use of a genomic tool, HER2DX, to predict patient outcomes.
Patients eligible for the study were adults with small (≤3 cm), node-negative, HER2-positive breast cancer. They received a year-long treatment that started with 12 weeks of weekly injections of paclitaxel and trastuzumab, followed by continued trastuzumab injections for the remaining 40 weeks.
The main goal was to observe the patients’ disease-free survival three years after the treatment. However, the outcomes reported here cover a 10-year period.
Out of 410 patients enrolled between October 2007 and September 2010, 406 received the treatment and were included in the final analysis. Most patients were female and White, with an average age of 55 years. After about 11 years of follow-up, the study found that the 10-year rates for various survival metrics were high, indicating that most patients remained cancer-free and alive.
Specifically, the 10-year invasive disease-free survival rate was 91.3%, indicating that 91.3% of patients did not have their cancer spread or return. Other metrics, such as recurrence-free survival and overall survival, also showed high percentages, suggesting the treatment’s effectiveness.
The study also found that the HER2DX risk score, a measurement derived from the genomic tool, was significantly associated with the patients’ outcomes.
Higher scores on this tool were linked to a greater risk of cancer recurrence or death, suggesting it could be useful in predicting how patients might respond to treatment.
Additionally, the HER2DX genomic tool showed potential in helping doctors predict patient prognosis and tailor treatments more accurately.
