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

What lies beyond APHINITY for HER2-positive breast cancer?

Nature Reviews Clinical Oncology volume 14, pages 715–716 (2017)Cite this article

Subjects

Potential strategies for improving the outcomes of patients with early stage HER2-positive (HER2+) breast cancer have included dual anti-HER2 therapy. Recent results from the APHINITY trial show a statistically significant, but clinically modest, benefit from the addition of pertuzumab to trastuzumab and chemotherapy. Subsequent trials should focus on biomarkers to identify patients with HER2+ breast cancer who require more-intensive or less-intensive therapy.

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

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. von Minckwitz, G. et al. Adjuvant pertuzumab and trastuzumab in early HER2-positive breast cancer. N. Engl. J. Med. 377, 122–131 (2017).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  2. Piccart-Gebhart, M. et al. Adjuvant lapatinib and trastuzumab for early human epidermal growth factor receptor 2-positive breast cancer: results from the randomized phase III Adjuvant Lapatinib and/or Trastuzumab Treatment Optimization trial. J. Clin. Oncol. 34, 1034–1042 (2016).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  3. Swain, S. M. et al. Pertuzumab, trastuzumab, and docetaxel in HER2-positive metastatic breast cancer. N. Engl. J. Med. 372, 724–734 (2015).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  4. 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 

  5. Tolaney, S. M. et al. Adjuvant paclitaxel and trastuzumab for node-negative, HER2-positive breast cancer. N. Engl. J. Med. 372, 134–141 (2015).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  6. Stanton, S. E., Adams, S. & Disis, M. L. Variation in the incidence and magnitude of tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes in breast cancer subtypes: a systematic review. JAMA Oncol. 2, 1354–1360 (2016).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  7. Arnould, L. et al. Trastuzumab-based treatment of HER2-positive breast cancer: an antibody-dependent cellular cytotoxicity mechanism? Br. J. Cancer 94, 259–267 (2006).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  8. Datta, J. et al. Anti-HER2 CD4+ T-helper type 1 response is a novel immune correlate to pathologic response following neoadjuvant therapy in HER2-positive breast cancer. Breast Cancer Res. 17, 71 (2015).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  9. Bianchini, G. et al. Immune modulation of pathologic complete response after neoadjuvant HER2-directed therapies in the NeoSphere trial. Ann. Oncol. 26, 2429–2436 (2015).

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  10. Gianni, L. et al. 5-year analysis of neoadjuvant pertuzumab and trastuzumab in patients with locally advanced, inflammatory, or early-stage HER2-positive breast cancer (NeoSphere): a multicentre, open-label, phase 2 randomised trial. Lancet Oncol. 17, 791–800 (2016).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

S.E.S. has received research support from the Institute of Translational Health Sciences (ITHS) grant KL2TR000421 from the NIH, and from the American Association of Cancer Research/Breast Cancer Research Foundation. The work of N.E.D. is supported by NIH grants P30CA015704 and T32CA009515, and a grant from the Breast Cancer Research Foundation.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Sasha E. Stanton is at the Tumor Vaccine Group Center for Translational Medicine in Women's Health, University of Washington, 850 Republican Street, Box 358050, Seattle, Washington 98109, USA.,

    Sasha E. Stanton

  2. Nancy E. Davidson is at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center and University of Washington, 1100 Fairview Avenue North, Thomas Building Room D5-310, Seattle, Washington 98109, USA.,

    Nancy E. Davidson

Authors
  1. Sasha E. Stanton
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Nancy E. Davidson
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Nancy E. Davidson.

Ethics declarations

Competing interests

The authors declare no competing financial interests.

PowerPoint slides

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Stanton, S., Davidson, N. What lies beyond APHINITY for HER2-positive breast cancer?. Nat Rev Clin Oncol 14, 715–716 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1038/nrclinonc.2017.125

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/nrclinonc.2017.125

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