What is HER2-positive breast cancer? | Dana-Farber Cancer Institute

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HER2-positive breast cancer represents 15-20 percent of all new cases of breast cancer. Eric P. Winer, MD, director of Breast Oncology at the Susan F. Smith Center for Women's Cancers, describes HER2-positive breast cancer symptoms and treatment options. To find out more visit http://www.dana-farber.org/Adu....lt-Care/Treatment-an

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HER2-positive breast cancer represents about 15% to 20% of all new cases of breast cancer. In women who have HER2-positive breast cancer—and the occasional man, of course, who may have this—there are too many copies of the HER2 gene in the nucleus of the cancer cell, and that gives rise to too much HER2 protein on the surface of the cancer cell. As a result of HER2, the cancer cell is able to grow and spread and invade more readily. HER2 is something that is very important for the cancer, because it helps it survive and flourish, which is of course good for the cancer and bad for the patient.

This used to be one of the worst subtypes of breast cancer—and it probably does tend to affect younger women a little bit more than older women, although we see it for across all ages—but what has changed is that over the past 15 years, we have developed so-called ‘targeted treatments’ for HER2-positive breast cancer. The first of those treatments is the drug Trastuzumab, which a lot of people call ‘Herceptin,’ but there are three additional targeted treatments that are now approved for HER2-positive breast cancer, which include the drug called Pertuzumab and a drug called T-DM1 and a drug called Lapatinib—all of these are very drugs for HER2-positive breast cancer. Sometimes they’re used alone. Most of the time they’re used in combination with other treatments—specifically chemotherapy or other forms of anti-HER2 treatment—and they can be very, very effective.

What has changed is that as a result of these treatments, there are more women with early-stage HER2-positive breast cancer who are cured of their cancer, and even in women who have more advanced forms of cancer, who have stage 4 or metastatic HER2-positive breast cancer. These drugs have prolonged life and as importantly have dramatically affected quality of life.

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