Her2-positive Lung Cancer Treated With Dedicated Drug

HER2 (erbB-2/neu) is a member of the erbB receptor tyrosine kinase family. ERBB2 gene which encodes human epidermal growth factor 2 (HER2) is a major proliferative driver activating downstream signaling through PI3K-AKT and MEK-ERK. HER2 overexpression or gene amplification is associated with sensitivity to trastuzumab and lapatinib in breast cancer. Among actual lung cancer biomarker, HER2 remains apart. HER2 involvement is known for a long time but clinical research has been stopped for many years since the first clinical trials in unselected patients were negative. Recently trastuzumab + pertuzumab + docetaxel has been tested for first-line treatment of HER2-positive metastatic breast cancer (CLEOPATRA trial). Analysis of the primary end point showed that patients who received pertuzumab, trastuzumab, and docetaxel (pertuzumab group) had a significantly longer median progression-free survival, as assessed by independent reviewers an did those who received placebo, trastuzumab, and docetaxel (control group) (hazard ratio favoring the pertuzumab group, 0.62). There is thus a strong rational for treating HER2 mutated lung cancer patient with these drugs.