Dr. Fader on Adding Trastuzumab to Chemo in HER2+ Uterine Serous Carcinoma

Amanda Nickles Fader, MD, an associate professor of Gynecology and Obstetrics, vice chair of Gynecologic Surgical Operations, director of the Kelly Gynecologic Oncology Service, director of the Center for Rare Gynecologic Cancers, at The Johns Hopkins Hospital, and director of the F.J. Montz Fellowship Program in Gynecologic Oncology at Johns Hopkins Medicine, discusses findings from a randomized phase II trial examining the efficacy of adding trastuzumab (Herceptin) to carboplatin/paclitaxel in patients with advanced or recurrent uterine serous carcinomas that overexpress HER2/neu.

After a median follow-up of 25.9 months, results from the trial showed that the addition of trastuzumab to carboplatin/paclitaxel led to improved PFS versus patients who received carboplatin/paclitaxel alone, at 12.9 months versus 8.0 months, explains Fader. The biggest difference was observed in patients with stage III/IV disease who were treated up front, adds Fader; for those patients, the PFS in the trastuzumab arm was 17.7 months versus 9.2 months in the control arm, says Fader.

The trastuzumab arm also experienced an improved overall survival (OS) benefit, at 29.6 months versus 24.4 months in the control group. For patients with stage III/IV disease who were treated up front with the trastuzumab-containing regimen, the median OS has not yet been reached, according to Fader.

Last year, the National Comprehensive Cancer Network guidelines for uterine cancer recognized the addition of trastuzumab as a preferred treatment regimen in patients with HER2-overexpressed uterine serous carcinomas, concludes Fader.

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