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Lack of trastuzumab activity in nonsmall cell lung carcinoma with overexpression of erb ‐B2
Author(s) -
Clamon Gerald,
Herndon James,
Kern Jeffrey,
Govindan Ramaswamy,
Garst Jennifer,
Watson Dorothy,
Green Mark
Publication year - 2005
Publication title -
cancer
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 3.052
H-Index - 304
eISSN - 1097-0142
pISSN - 0008-543X
DOI - 10.1002/cncr.20950
Subject(s) - trastuzumab , medicine , immunohistochemistry , carcinoma , lung cancer , oncology , lung , chemotherapy , cancer , stage (stratigraphy) , regimen , breast cancer , pathology , paleontology , biology
BACKGROUND The overexpression of HER‐2 occurs in a minority of patients with nonsmall cell lung carcinoma. Trastuzumab, which is a monoclonal antibody to HER‐2, is an effective treatment in some women with breast carcinomas that overexpress HER‐2, as demonstrated by immunohistochemistry. The objective of this Phase II study was to determine whether trastuzumab would effect responses in patients with nonsmall cell lung carcinoma who had tumors that overexpressed HER‐2. METHODS Patients were required to have Stage IIIB or Stage IV nonsmall cell lung carcinoma and tumors with 2+ or 3+ expression of HER‐2, as determined with immunohistochemistry, and they may have received up to 1 prior chemotherapy regimen. Trastuzumab at a dose of 4 mg/kg was given intravenously on Week 1; then, weekly doses of 2 mg/kg were given. Response revaluation was performed every 8 weeks. RESULTS Among 209 screened patients, 24 patients (11%) had tumors with 2+ or 3+ expression of HER‐2. One patient achieved a partial response, and one patient experienced a treatment‐related death due to pulmonary toxicity. CONCLUSIONS Single‐agent trastuzumab did not exhibit significant clinical activity against nonsmall cell lung carcinoma when HER‐2 expression levels were measured by immunohistochemistry. Cancer 2005. © 2005 American Cancer Society.