Researchers studied isolated CTCs along with real-world patient data and found that patients with blood-borne HER2 mutations may respond to anti-HER2 treatment.
Meeting presentations supported tweaking the clinical interpretation of Genomic Health's Oncotype DX and bolstered Biotheranostics' Breast Cancer Index.
Studies presented at the AACR meeting demonstrated how the registry can be used to evaluate how cancer patients with rare tumor markers respond to treatments.
Based on the findings, MD Anderson is already using HER2 status to recommend patients for clinical trials instead of EGFR drugs and authors recommend others follow suit.
The updated guidelines confirm HER2 gene amplification assessed by ISH and protein overexpression assessed by IHC are primary predictors of responsiveness to HER2 therapy.
The analysis of HER2 and HER3 mutation carriers emphasizes how these studies can lead both to broadening and to narrowing of the patient populations for targeted drugs.
