Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

  • News & Views
  • Published:

Breast Cancer

Blocking both driver and escape pathways improves outcomes

Nature Reviews Clinical Oncology volume 9, pages 133–134 (2012)Cite this article

Subjects

The BOLERO-2 and CLEOPATRA trials evaluated everolimus for estrogen receptor-positive and pertuzumab for HER2-positive metastatic breast cancer. Both agents enhanced the efficacy of standard therapy, were relatively well tolerated and should be approved for therapeutic use. These data confirm that targeting both major driver and escape pathways improves treatment outcomes.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution

Relevant articles

Open Access articles citing this article.

Access options

Buy this article

  • Purchase on Springer Link
  • Instant access to full article PDF
Buy now

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

References

  1. Early Breast Cancer Trialists' Collaborative Group (EBCTCG). Relevance of breast cancer hormone receptors and other factors to the efficacy of adjuvant tamoxifen: patient-level meta-analysis of randomised trials. Lancet 378, 771–784 (2011).

  2. Perez, E. A. et al. Four-year follow-up of trastuzumab plus adjuvant chemotherapy for operable human epidermal growth factor receptor 2-positive breast cancer: joint analysis of data from NCCTG N9831 and NSABP B-31. J. Clin. Oncol. 29, 3366–3373 (2011).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  3. Baselga, J. et al. Everolimus in postmenopausal hormone-receptor-positive advanced breast cancer. N. Engl. J. Med. http://dx.doi.org/10.1056/NEJMoa1109653.

  4. Baselga, J. et al. Pertuzumab plus trastuzumab plus docetaxel for metastatic breast cancer. N. Engl. J. Med. 366, 109–119 (2012).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  5. Ghosh, R. et al. Trastuzumab has preferential activity against breast cancers driven by HER2 homodimers. Cancer Res. 71, 1871–1882 (2011).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  6. Osborne, C. K. & Schiff, R. Mechanisms of endocrine resistance in breast cancer. Annu. Rev. Med. 62, 233–247 (2011).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  7. Creighton, C. J. et al. Development of resistance to targeted therapies transforms the clinically associated molecular profile subtype of breast tumor xenografts. Cancer Res. 68, 7493–7501 (2008).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  8. Rimawi, M. F. et al. Reduced dose and intermittent treatment with lapatinib and trastuzumab for potent blockade of the HER pathway in HER2/neu-overexpressing breast tumor xenografts. Clin. Cancer Res. 17, 1351–1361 (2011).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  9. Chang, J. C. N. et al. TBCRC 006: A multicenter phase II study of neoadjuvant lapatinib and trastuzumab without chemotherapy in patients with HER2-overexpressing breast cancer [abstract]. J. Clin. Oncol. 29 (Suppl.), a505 (2011).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  10. Gianni, L. et al. Efficacy and safety of neoadjuvant pertuzumab and trastuzumab in women with locally advanced, inflammatory, or early HER2-positive breast cancer (NeoSphere): a randomised multicentre, open-label, phase 2 trial. Lancet Oncol. 13, 25–32 (2012).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

The authors are supported by the Baylor Breast Spore Grant (P50 CA058183) and the Cancer Center Support Grant (P30 CA125123) both from the National Cancer Institute.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Lester and Sue Smith Breast Center and Dan L. Duncan Cancer Center, Baylor College of Medicine, 1 Baylor Plaza, MS 600, Houston, 77030, TX, USA

    Mothaffar F. Rimawi & C. Kent Osborne

Authors
  1. Mothaffar F. Rimawi
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. C. Kent Osborne
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to C. Kent Osborne.

Ethics declarations

Competing interests

M. F. Rimawi declares that he has received grant or research support from Genentech, GlaxoSmithKline and Novartis. C. K. Osborne declares that he has been a consultant for AstraZeneca, Boehringer Ingelheim, Genentech, Novartis and Pfizer.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Rimawi, M., Osborne, C. Blocking both driver and escape pathways improves outcomes. Nat Rev Clin Oncol 9, 133–134 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1038/nrclinonc.2012.9

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/nrclinonc.2012.9

This article is cited by

Search

Advanced search

Quick links

Nature Briefing: Cancer

Sign up for the Nature Briefing: Cancer newsletter — what matters in cancer research, free to your inbox weekly.

Get what matters in cancer research, free to your inbox weekly. Sign up for Nature Briefing: Cancer