Incorporating trastuzumab into the neoadjuvant treatment of HER2-overexpressing breast cancer

We sought to provide a brief overview of the available results of trastuzumab in the neoadjuvant treatment of women with locally advanced, HER2-overexpressing breast cancer. A review of published reports was conducted by the use of Medline computer searching and manual searching of abstracts presented at the Annual Meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology and the San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium between 2002 and 2004. Several phase II trials and one phase III trial show that trastuzumab-containing regimens are feasible and yield high rates of clinical and pathologic complete response in women with locally advanced HER2-overexpressing breast cancer. Moreover, the neoadjuvant approach allows serial monitoring of biologic phenomena that occur during the administration of therapy, which acquires particular importance in the case of targeted therapies like trastuzumab. The incorporation of trastuzumab into neoadjuvant therapy for breast cancer appears promising. However, no data on long-term survival and safety are available at present. Well-designed clinical trials are needed to establish the optimal trastuzumab-based neoadjuvant strategy.