Related Experiment Video
Updated: Feb 8, 2026

Monitoring Breast Cancer Growth and Metastatic Colony Formation in Mice using Bioluminescence
Published on: November 5, 2021
HER2-directed therapy for metastatic breast cancer
Danijela Jelovac1, Leisha A Emens
1Breast Cancer and Tumor Immunology Cancer Research Programs, Sidney Kimmel Comprehensive Cancer Center, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, Maryland, USA.
Abstract:
Human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2) overexpression drives the biology of 20% of breast cancers, and predicts a poor prognosis for patients. HER2-targeted therapies significantly improve outcomes for HER2-positive patients with both early and metastatic breast cancer. Currently three HER2-targeted agents, trastuzumab (Herceptin), lapatinib (Tykerb), and pertuzumab (Perjeta), are available for the treatment of HER2-positive metastatic breast cancer (MBC). Numerous studies have attempted to optimize their use by combining them with each other, or with endocrine and cytotoxic therapies. Most recently, the FDA approved the combination of trastuzumab, pertuzumab, and docetaxel as first-line treatment for MBC, and in late February 2013 approved a fourth HER2-targeted agent, trastuzumab emtansine (T-DM1, Kadcyla), for accelerated approval. These advances create a number of clinical dilemmas, including identification of the optimal sequence of HER2-targeted agents and the best drug combinations to use, as well as the recognition of primary and acquired drug resistance. In this article, we review clinical data informing the effective management of HER2-positive MBC.
More Related Videos
05:05Generating a Murine Orthotopic Metastatic Breast Cancer Model and Performing Murine Radical Mastectomy
Published on: November 29, 2018
11:34Building Up a High-throughput Screening Platform to Assess the Heterogeneity of HER2 Gene Amplification in Breast Cancers
Published on: December 5, 2017
Related Concept Videos
Cancer Therapies
However, cancer treatments can pose several challenges, as therapies used to kill cancer cells are generally also toxic to normal cells. Moreover, cancer cells mutate rapidly and can develop resistance to chemical agents or radiation therapy. Besides, all types of cancer cells may not respond to the same therapy. Some cancer cells respond to one...
Targeted Cancer Therapies
There are several types of targeted therapies against...
Gene Therapy
Group Therapy
Directing Effect of Substituents: meta-Directing Groups
Directing Effect of Substituents: ortho–para-Directing Groups