Herceptin (Roche) may equalise DFS for obese and normal weight Breast Cancer patients

Obese patients with HER2-positive Breast Cancer have larger tumours, increased lymph node involvement and, when not treated with Herceptin (trastuzumab), from Roche, poorer long-term outcomes than normal-weight patients. The study, known as N9831, included 3,017 patients and was the first to explore the relationship between body mass and the patient's response to treatment and disease-free survival (DFS). Patients were assigned treatment with only chemotherapy, with chemotherapy and sequential Herceptin or with chemotherapy and concurrent Herceptin. Results show that obese patients and overweight patients had lower DFS rates of 70.6 percent and 65.9 percent, respectively, after seven years when not treated with Herceptin compared with a rate of 74.7 percent among normal-weight patients also treated with chemotherapy alone. Adding Herceptin to treatment, particularly when concurrent with chemotherapy, may potentially equalize DFS rates. Among patients treated with sequential Herceptin, normal-weight patients appeared to benefit more from the treatment than obese patients. Finally patients treated with chemotherapy alone had the worst observed DFS rate of the three groups.