Aims:
Pre-clinical and clinical data indicate two different subtypes of HER2 positive breast cancers: HR+HER2+ and HR-HER2+, with distinct clinicopathology and behaviour. We further explored these potential differences, including the pattern of relapse and survival, using data from a HER2+MBC registry.
Methods:
The TABITHA registry is prospectively collecting data on patients with HER2+ MBC across multiple sites in Australia. Comparing patients with HER2+HR- tumours with patients with HER2+HR+tumors, we examined patient demographics, tumour size, nodal status, grade, site of metastasis, type of presentation (de novo versus recurrent metastatic disease), progression free survival (PFS), and overall survival (OS).
Results:
One hundred patients with HER2+ MBC included in TABITHA database were enrolled between 24/02/2015 and 8/8/2017.Most patients (63%) presented with relapsed disease. Sixty patients (60%) had HR+HER2+ tumours and forty patients (40%) had HR-HER2+ tumours. Compared with patients with HR+HER2+, the patients with HR-HER2+ tumours were significantly more likely to present with visceral disease, commonly involving the CNS (p=0.01) and the lung (p=0.03).Ten out of 25(62.5%) patients with HR-HER2+ MBC who presented with relapsed disease, relapsed within CNS, whilst only one out of 15 of patients (6.7%) with de novo HR-HER2+ MBC had CNS involvement. Median PFS was significantly longer for patients with HR+HER2+tumors than for patients with HR-HER2+tumors (19.4 months vs. 16.2 months, p=0.023).Similarly, the median OS for patients with HR+HER2+ was significantly greater (not reached vs. 33.6 months in patients with HR-HER2+ tumours) (p=0.013).Patients who had received anti- HER2 therapy in the adjuvant setting had a shorter median survival than treatment naive patients (42.8 months vs. not reached, p=0.048).
Conclusions:
This study suggests significant clinicopathologic and outcome differences between the two cohorts of HER2+ MBC based on HR status. Further work will be done to expand on these results.