A significant number of women with advanced
breast cancer fail to respond to standard-dose
chemotherapy. From the beginning of 1999, 17 women with HER2 positive advanced
breast cancer received
Herceptin as monotherapy or in combination with
paclitaxel or other non-
anthracyclines. Eight (47%) women previously received high-dose
chemotherapy followed by haematopoiesis stem cell rescue. Three women received
Herceptin alone, eleven
Herceptin plus
paclitaxel and three
Herceptin and some of the other non-
anthracyclines (
CCNU,
cisplatin and
gemcitabine). In the group of patients who received
Herceptin monotherapy, one has partial response (PR), one stable disease (SD) and in the third patient the disease progressed. Out of three patients who received
Herceptin in combination with other non-
anthracyclines, two have SD and one progressed. In the group of 11 women who received
Herceptin +
Taxol, 7 (64%) patients achieved PR, 2 (18%) SD, and 2 (18%) had
disease progression. Grade 3-4
neutropenia has been observed in four (23%) women.
Febrile neutropenia was observed in two cases and resolved completely when
antibiotics were introduced. Other grade 3 toxicity that has been noted is
peripheral neuropathy in three (18%) patients, diarrhoea in four (23%) and
onycholysis in one (6%). Serial heart ultrasound showed no significant decline in left ventricular ejection fraction. According to our preliminary experience,
Herceptin therapy showed promising results in women with metastatic
breast cancer.