Clinical utility of the combination of lapatinib and letrozole in the management of hormone receptor-positive and HER2-positive advanced breast cancer.

ABSTRACT: Breast cancers that overexpress human epidermal growth factor receptor-2 (HER2-positive [HER2+]) tend to be biologically aggressive and associated with a poor prognosis, even those that coexpress receptors for estrogen and/or progesterone (hormone receptor-positive [HR+]). Optimal therapy for patients with "double-positive" (HR+/HER2+) breast cancers is still being defined. In this subset of patients, the efficacy of targeted endocrine therapies appears to be diminished by cross-activation or "crosstalk" between estrogen receptor-mediated gene transcription and pathways activated by other growth factor receptors, including HER2. Lapatinib is a tyrosine kinase inhibitor which binds reversibly to the intracellular domains of the epidermal growth factor receptor and HER2, interfering with the

SUBMITTER: Merriam P 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3846896 | biostudies-literature | 2011 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature