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The Spanish presence of researchers under study at the San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium (SABCS), which is being held in San Antonio, Texas, brings good news for HER2 + breast cancer patients. This type of tumor affects between 12 and 15% of women with breast cancer and, although it is not one of the most frequent, it is one of the most aggressive .

Two studies of the Institute of Oncology of the Vall d'Hebrón Hospital, in Barcelona, ​​presented this Wednesday at the congress and published simultaneously in The New England Journal of Medicine , reveal two treatments that advance in the chronification of cancer . The first of these international trials has analyzed the efficacy of a triple combination of drugs (tucatinib with trastuzumab and capecitabine) in 600 patients with this type of breast cancer and metastasis. These patients had already been treated with the two usual treatment lines for this type of cancer.

The study has shown that adding tucatinib - a specific tyrosine kinase inhibitor for this tumor still under investigation - reduces the risk by 50% of disease progression or death and improves overall survival. «It's very good news for these patients . This triple therapy works in patients without metastases and does equally well in patients with brain metastases, ”says Mafalda Oliveira, from the Breast Unit of Vall d'Hebrón and author of this study.

The results cover a treatment gap for these women, who have few therapy options.

The novelty of the work is that it includes not only patients with treated and stable brain metastases but also those with progression metastases, a group that tend to be left out of research. It is estimated that between 40 and 50% of patients with this type of tumor will develop a brain metastasis . The results cover a treatment gap for these women, "who have few therapy options."

Oliveira hopes that these results will arrive soon to the consultation to apply in third line of treatment. «We know that the first and second lines are very effective, but in a large majority of patients the cancer will progress even if they have a very good general condition. Having a treatment option with sufficient evidence of survival improvement is good news, ”he says.

The second of these studies with Spanish participation, which has opened the press conference of the San Antonio congress, is the essay called Destiny-Breast001. This work has also presented results of a new drug for HER2 + breast cancer in women who have already received many treatments.

Cristina Saura, head of the Breast Unit of the Oncology Service of Vall d'Hebrón recognizes that the results have exceeded their expectations. The directed monoclonal antibody used - called trastuzumab deruxtecan - ensures that more than 60% of patients respond to treatment and the duration of that response time is 16 months. " It is a milestone because patients with HER2 + end up not responding to therapies , so having an effective treatment when the disease is resistant and controlling cancer for more than a year is important," explains Saura.

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