Study of the combination gemcitabine and trastuzumab in the treatment of HER2+ metastatic breast cancer

Objective

Trastuzumab and gemcitabine are two active drugs for meta-static breast cancer (MBC) treatment. We conducted a retrospective study of this combination in patients with Her2+ MBC in our hospital.

Patients and methods

Retrospective assessment of the efficacy of trastuzumab and gemcitabine association in patients with MBC previously treated with different lines of chemotherapy.

Results

Seventeen heavily pretreated patients with poor prognosis were evaluated. Fourteen patients (82%) had received prior adjuvant chemotherapy and 11 patients (64%) prior adjuvant radiotherapy; 12 patients (70%) had received prior chemotherapy for MBC. All the patients had received taxanes and 15 (88%) had received anthracyclines also. We observed a 41% rate of response, two complete responses, five partial responses, and 41% stable disease, obtaining 82% clinical benefit. The time-to-progression was 7.2 months. Median survival has not yet been reached. Nine of the patients had received previous treatment with trastuzumab alone or in combination, four additional responses and four stable disease responses being observed, which produces an 88% clinical benefit. One patient discontinued treatment because of LVEF decline (>50%).

Conclusion

Trastuzumab and gemcitabine constitutes a well-tolerated and very active regimen for Her2+ MBC heavily pretreated patients, including patients who have been previously treated with trastuzumab.