Dr. Hamilton on the Evolution of Treatment in HER2+ Breast Cancer

Erika P. Hamilton, MD, director of the Breast Cancer and Gynecologic Research Program and principal investigator at Sarah Cannon Research Institute, discusses the evolution of treatment in HER2-positive breast cancer.

Women with early-stage HER2-positive breast cancer respond well to current therapies, evidenced by the fact that half of women with metastatic HER2-positive disease have de novo metastatic disease. This doesn't mean that de novo disease is becoming more common, says Hamilton, but rather that the women who receive neoadjuvant therapy tend not to relapse.

As the paradigm continues to evolve, the field may see more trials with immunotherapy. Immunotherapy has shown success in triple-negative breast cancer, and smaller trials have combined immunotherapy with HER2-directed agents. There is no reason to think that the combination of an immunotherapy drug and a targeted agent couldn’t lead to synergistic benefit in the HER2-positive breast cancer space as well, concludes Hamilton.