Highlights
- •First phase III study of adjuvant dual HER2 blockade for HER2+ breast cancer.
- •8381 patients with stage I-III HER2+ breast cancer, followed for at least 5 years.
- •Compared chemotherapy + trastuzumab versus chemotherapy + 3 lapatinib-containing arms.
- •Lapatinib associated with increased non-cardiac.
- •Chemotherapy + lapatinib/trastuzumab not superior to chemotherapy + trastuzumab.
Abstract
Aim
To present the pre-specified analyses of >5-years follow-up of the Phase III ALTTO
trial.
Patients and methods
8381 patients with stage I-III HER2 positive breast cancer randomised to chemotherapy
plus 1-year of trastuzumab (T), oral lapatinib (L; no longer evaluated), trastuzumab
followed by lapatinib (T→L), and lapatinib + trastuzumab (L+T). The primary endpoint
was disease-free survival (DFS). A secondary analysis examined DFS treatment effects
by hormone receptor status, nodal status and chemotherapy timing; time to recurrence;
overall survival (OS) and safety (overall and cardiac).
Results
At a median follow-up of 6.9 years, 705 DFS events for L+T versus T were observed.
Hazard Ratio (HR) for DFS was 0.86 (95% CI, 0.74–1.00) for L+T versus T and 0.93 (95%
CI, 0.81–1.08) for T→L versus T. The 6-year DFS were 85%, 84%, and 82% for L+T, T→L,
and T, respectively. HR for OS was 0.86 (95% CI, 0.70–1.06) for L+T versus T and 0.88
(95% CI, 0.71–1.08) for T→L versus T. The 6-year OS were 93%, 92%, and 91% for L+T,
T→L, and T, respectively. Subset analyses showed a numerically better HR for DFS in
favour of L+T versus T for the hormone-receptor-negative [HR 0.80 (95% CI, 0.64–1.00;
6-yr DFS% = 84% versus 80%)] and the sequential chemotherapy [HR 0.83 (95% CI, 0.69–1.00;
6-yr DFS% = 83% versus79%)] subgroups.
Conclusion
T+L did not significantly improve DFS and OS over T alone, both with chemotherapy,
and, therefore, cannot be recommended for adjuvant treatment of early-stage HER2-positive
breast cancer.
Trial Registration
clinicaltrials.gov Identifier NCT00490139.
Keywords
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Article info
Publication history
Published online: March 22, 2021
Accepted:
January 24,
2021
Received in revised form:
January 14,
2021
Received:
October 26,
2020
Identification
Copyright
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