HER4 expression status correlates with improved outcome in both neoadjuvant and adjuvant Trastuzumab treated invasive breast carcinoma

Oncotarget. 2013 Oct;4(10):1662-72. doi: 10.18632/oncotarget.1232.

Abstract

Prognostic and predictive markers utilized in invasive breast carcinoma are limited and include ER, PR, Ki67, and ERBB2 (HER2). In the case of HER2, over-expression or amplification serves as eligibility for anti-HER2 based therapy, including trastuzumab (Herceptin®, Genentech). While clinical trials have shown trastuzumab improves overall survival and time to progression, an individual's response to anti-HER2 based therapy is highly variable. This suggests that, in a "uniform" HER2 positive population, additional markers could help in predicting patient outcome to therapy. Here we utilized a recently validated high-specificity HER4 antibody (E200) and generated a standard clinical HER4 scoring algorithm (HER4 H-Score) utilizing two breast carcinoma cohorts: 1) patients receiving neoadjuvant trastuzumab (n=47) and 2) patients receiving trastuzumab for metastatic disease (n=33). Our HER4 H-Score showed significant correlation with high sensitivity RT-qPCR performed on matched patients (p=<0.0001). In addition, patients with HER2/HER4 co-over-expression status showed a significant delay in development of metastasis after neo-adjuvant trastuzumab therapy (p= 0.04) and showed a significant improvement in progression free survival after adjuvant trastuzumab therapy (p=0.03). These findings suggest HER4 IHC, used in conjunction with a standard HER2 testing algorithm, could aid in predicting clinical outcome and help identify patients likely to show improved response to trastuzumab therapy.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Adult
  • Algorithms
  • Antibodies, Monoclonal, Humanized / therapeutic use*
  • Antineoplastic Agents / therapeutic use*
  • Breast Neoplasms / drug therapy*
  • Breast Neoplasms / enzymology*
  • Breast Neoplasms / pathology
  • Chemotherapy, Adjuvant
  • ErbB Receptors / analysis
  • ErbB Receptors / biosynthesis*
  • Female
  • Humans
  • Immunohistochemistry
  • Middle Aged
  • Neoadjuvant Therapy
  • Neoplasm Invasiveness
  • Prognosis
  • Receptor, ErbB-4
  • Trastuzumab
  • Treatment Outcome

Substances

  • Antibodies, Monoclonal, Humanized
  • Antineoplastic Agents
  • ERBB4 protein, human
  • ErbB Receptors
  • Receptor, ErbB-4
  • Trastuzumab