TRASTUZUMAB - REVIEW OF USE AND EFFECTIVENESS IN THE TREATMENT OF HER2-POSITIVE NEOPLASM
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.31435/ijitss.2(50).2026.5170Keywords:
Trastuzumab, Cancer, Breast, Stomach, HER2Abstract
Treating cancers is a challenge that many scientists from around the world face every day. Thanks to the scientific advances, cancers are now divided not only by the organ they affect, but also into subtypes such as histological and molecular. Small molecules present on cancer cells have become the target of molecular drugs, making cancer treatment even more personalized for specific type. One of them is the use of trastuzumab - a targeted monoclonal antibody used in the treatment of cancers with overexpression of the HER2 protein on cell membrane. Trastuzumab inhibits the growth of cancer cells by blocking HER2 receptors. This mechanism is used in the treatment of HER2-positive breast and stomach cancer. In clinical trials, trastuzumab has been shown to have significantly higher rates of disease-free survival, absolute survival rate, median overall survival, progression-free survival and the duration of response than similar therapies without it. This makes it promising and useful in anticancer therapy in some neoplasm types. In addition, the safety profile has been checked and assessed in many respects, taking into account the side effects that this drug causes.
References
Raghav, K. P. S., & Moasser, M. M. (2023). Molecular pathways and mechanisms of HER2 in cancer therapy. Clinical Cancer Research, 29(13), 2351–2361. https://doi.org/10.1158/1078-0432.CCR-22-0283
Guy, C. T., Webster, M. A., Schaller, M., Parsons, T. J., Cardiff, R. D., & Muller, W. J. (1992). Expression of the neu protooncogene in the mammary epithelium of transgenic mice induces metastatic disease. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 89(22), 10578–10582. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.89.22.10578
Iqbal, N., & Iqbal, N. (2014). Human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2) in cancers: Overexpression and therapeutic implications. Molecular Biology International, 2014, Article 852748. https://doi.org/10.1155/2014/852748
Smolarz, B., Nowak, A. Z., & Romanowicz, H. (2022). Breast cancer—Epidemiology, classification, pathogenesis and treatment: Review of literature. Cancers, 14(10), Article 2569. https://doi.org/10.3390/cancers14102569
Shirman, Y., Lubovsky, S., & Shai, A. (2023). HER2-low breast cancer: Current landscape and future prospects. Breast Cancer: Targets and Therapy, 15, 605–616. https://doi.org/10.2147/BCTT.S366122
Yonemura, Y., Ninomiya, I., Yamaguchi, A., Fushida, S., Kimura, H., Ohoyama, S., Miyazaki, I., Endou, Y., Tanaka, M., & Sasaki, T. (1991). Evaluation of immunoreactivity for erbB-2 protein as a marker of poor short term prognosis in gastric cancer. Cancer Research, 51(3), 1034–1038.
Boekhout, A. H., Beijnen, J. H., & Schellens, J. H. (2011). Trastuzumab. The Oncologist, 16(6), 800–810. https://doi.org/10.1634/theoncologist.2010-0035
Valabrega, G., Montemurro, F., & Aglietta, M. (2007). Trastuzumab: Mechanism of action, resistance and future perspectives in HER2-overexpressing breast cancer. Annals of Oncology, 18(6), 977–984. https://doi.org/10.1093/annonc/mdl475
Izumi, Y., Xu, L., di Tomaso, E., Fukumura, D., & Jain, R. K. (2002). Tumour biology: Herceptin acts as an anti-angiogenic cocktail. Nature, 416(6878), 279–280. https://doi.org/10.1038/416279b
Albanell, J., Codony, J., Rovira, A., Mellado, B., & Gascón, P. (2003). Mechanism of action of anti-HER2 monoclonal antibodies: Scientific update on trastuzumab and 2C4. Advances in Experimental Medicine and Biology, 532, 253–268. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4615-0081-0_21
Cameron, D., Piccart-Gebhart, M. J., Gelber, R. D., Procter, M., Goldhirsch, A., de Azambuja, E., Castro, G., Jr., Untch, M., Smith, I., Gianni, L., Baselga, J., Al-Sakaff, N., Lauer, S., McFadden, E., Leyland-Jones, B., Bell, R., Dowsett, M., Jackisch, C., & Herceptin Adjuvant (HERA) Trial Study Team. (2017). 11 years’ follow-up of trastuzumab after adjuvant chemotherapy in HER2-positive early breast cancer: Final analysis of the HERceptin Adjuvant (HERA) trial. Lancet, 389(10075), 1195–1205. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(16)32616-2
Romond, E. H., Perez, E. A., Bryant, J., Suman, V. J., Geyer, C. E., Jr., Davidson, N. E., Tan-Chiu, E., Martino, S., Paik, S., Kaufman, P. A., Swain, S. M., Pisansky, T. M., Fehrenbacher, L., Kutteh, L. A., Vogel, V. G., Visscher, D. W., Yothers, G., Jenkins, R. B., Brown, A. M., Dakhil, S. R., … Wolmark, N. (2005). Trastuzumab plus adjuvant chemotherapy for operable HER2-positive breast cancer. The New England Journal of Medicine, 353(16), 1673–1684. https://doi.org/10.1056/NEJMoa052122
Slamon, D., Eiermann, W., Robert, N., Pienkowski, T., Martin, M., Press, M., Mackey, J., Glaspy, J., Chan, A., Pawlicki, M., Pinter, T., Valero, V., Liu, M. C., Sauter, G., von Minckwitz, G., Visco, F., Bee, V., Buyse, M., Bendahmane, B., Tabah-Fisch, I., … Breast Cancer International Research Group. (2011). Adjuvant trastuzumab in HER2-positive breast cancer. The New England Journal of Medicine, 365(14), 1273–1283. https://doi.org/10.1056/NEJMoa0910383
Au, H. J., Eiermann, W., Robert, N. J., Pienkowski, T., Crown, J., Martin, M., Pawlicki, M., Chan, A., Mackey, J., Glaspy, J., Pintér, T., Liu, M. C., Fornander, T., Sehdev, S., Ferrero, J. M., Bée, V., Santana, M. J., Miller, D. P., Lalla, D., Slamon, D. J., … Translational Research in Oncology BCIRG 006 Trial Investigators. (2013). Health-related quality of life with adjuvant docetaxel- and trastuzumab-based regimens in patients with node-positive and high-risk node-negative, HER2-positive early breast cancer: Results from the BCIRG 006 study. The Oncologist, 18(7), 812–818. https://doi.org/10.1634/theoncologist.2013-0091
Bang, Y. J., Van Cutsem, E., Feyereislova, A., Chung, H. C., Shen, L., Sawaki, A., Lordick, F., Ohtsu, A., Omuro, Y., Satoh, T., Aprile, G., Kulikov, E., Hill, J., Lehle, M., Rüschoff, J., Kang, Y. K., & ToGA Trial Investigators. (2010). Trastuzumab in combination with chemotherapy versus chemotherapy alone for treatment of HER2-positive advanced gastric or gastro-oesophageal junction cancer (ToGA): A phase 3, open-label, randomised controlled trial. Lancet, 376(9742), 687–697. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(10)61121-X
Satoh, T., Bang, Y. J., Gotovkin, E. A., Hamamoto, Y., Kang, Y. K., Moiseyenko, V. M., Ohtsu, A., Van Cutsem, E., Al-Sakaff, N., Urspruch, A., Hill, J., Weber, H. A., Chung, H. C., & ToGA Trial Investigators. (2014). Quality of life in the trastuzumab for gastric cancer trial. The Oncologist, 19(7), 712–719. https://doi.org/10.1634/theoncologist.2014-0058
Xu, T., Wang, X., Xin, Y., Wang, Z., Gong, J., Zhang, X., Li, Y., Ji, C., Sun, Y., Zhao, F., Huang, D., Bai, Y., Li, J., & Shen, L. (2023). Trastuzumab combined with irinotecan in patients with HER2-positive metastatic colorectal cancer: A phase II single-arm study and exploratory biomarker analysis. Cancer Research and Treatment, 55(2), 626–635. https://doi.org/10.4143/crt.2022.1058
Downloads
Published
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2026 Wiktoria Król, Konrad Kulka, Dominika Jurczak, Julia Koronczok-Matusiak, Zuzanna Kafara, Donata Kowalczyk, Zuzanna Lechowska, Agnieszka Kafara, Rafał Szarek , Katarzyna Michta

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
All articles are published in open-access and licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC BY 4.0). Hence, authors retain copyright to the content of the articles.
CC BY 4.0 License allows content to be copied, adapted, displayed, distributed, re-published or otherwise re-used for any purpose including for adaptation and commercial use provided the content is attributed.

