新型抗癌药物Pertuzumab(HER二聚体抑制剂)的早期临床试验的结果十分振奋人心，与赫赛汀联用时，对于经治的HER2阳性乳腺癌患者，该药表现出显著的抗肿瘤活性。研究显示，采用Pertuzumab的治疗，1/5患者有效，1/5患者的病情稳定达6个月或更久。该结果的特殊意义在于，这些患者使用其他治疗方案往往受到限制，而Pertuzumab却可使晚期癌症患者受益。
西班牙巴塞罗那Vall d’Hebron 大学附属医院的首席教授Baselga指出：“对那些HER2阳性同时对现有的治疗方案没有反应的患者来说，这无疑是一个潜在的好消息。受早期结果的鼓舞，我们将继续入组更多的患者，开展第二阶段的研究(III期)。”
今年的ASCO年会上公布了该药Ⅱ期研究结论，该研究调查两个罗氏的HER2靶向性药物—Pertuzumab和赫賽汀联合应用—对HER2阳性伴有脑转移且赫賽汀+常规化疗无效的乳腺癌患者的疗效。
Pertuzumab是新一类靶向治疗药物，HER二聚体是抑制剂中第一个进入临床研究的药物。该药物抑制蛋白质HER2和其他HER家族的受体(如HER1-HER4)的配对或是二聚化。目前认为，这种相互作用在许多不同类型肿瘤的增殖和形成中均起重要作用。由于作用机理上的不同，联合用Pertuzumab增加了赫赛汀的治疗活性。
罗氏公司研发部主任Garaud评论道：“该研究的阳性结果坚定了我们推进乳腺癌患者中PertuzumabⅢ期开发的决心。我们将继续研究Pertuzumab对伴有转移的晚期乳癌的疗效，此外，还将探索其在早期乳癌外科之前期的应用。”
Pertuzumab
New Drug For Breast Cancer Treatment
A new drug, called Pertuzumab, related to the controversial drug Herceptin, may pave the way for new treatment of breast cancer. Pertuzumab works in the same way as Herceptin by targeting the HER-2 gene found in 20 per cent of .
Pertuzumab Boosts Survival in Recurrent Ovarian Cancer Patients
According to Phase II clinical trial data with 130 patients, an experimental drug called pertuzumab prolonged the survival time for women with stage 3 recurrent ovarian cancer.
Pertuzumab is a monoclonal antibody being developed by Genentech as a chemotherapeutic drug against prostate, breast, and ovarian cancers.
In the study, pertuzumab was administered in combination with a standard chemotherapy agent sometime after the initial treatments had been given, and after the re-emergence of cancer. Makhija said the new combination added weeks to the standard survival period for recurrent patients, and the drug combo was well-tolerated by the body and caused minimal side effects.
The results were presented in the recently concluded European Cancer Conference held in Barcelona, Spain. The Phase II study is now closed, and a larger Phase 3 study of pertuzumab set to include hundreds of U.S. women is being planned.