Lunch Symposium held by Astrazeneca
“2023 Update on HER2 Low Breast Cancer – Optimising pathologists’ daily practice”
Date: Friday 26th May 2023
Time: 1:00 to 2:00 pm
Venue: Meeting Room P11, Plaza Level, BCEC, Brisbane
(Registration full)
Session Description
The DESTINY-Breast04, a phase 3 open label RCT, recently demonstrated the efficacy and safety of Trastuzumab deruxtecan (T-DXd), compared with chemotherapy of physician’s choice, in patients with HER2-low unresectable or metastatic breast cancer. HER2-low designation requires 1+ or 2+ HER2 IHC staining, without amplification. HER2-zero patients (IHC 0) were ineligible (Modi 2022).
This is a new focus for pathologists evaluating breast cancer specimens. Some studies have reported interobserver concordance for cases in this low spectrum of HER2 protein expression is of concern. Yet, currently level 1 evidence supports the use of T-DXd for patients with HER2-Low cancers, but such evidence is unavailable for HER2-Zero cancers and pathologists can legitimately be asked to make this distinction in the interest of patient care.
This session will introduce the topic and offer a discussion on practical steps pathologists can utilise to improve their confidence and concordance in this new era of HER2 testing.
Speaker presentations details:
Prof Gelareh Farshid is a Clinical Professor in the Schools of Medicine and Medical Sciences at the University of Adelaide. She is an internationally recognised breast pathologist, serving on multiple international and national professional bodies involved with breast pathology. She contributed to the launch of the Australian HER2 Testing Program since its inception at the turn of the century and has continued to contribute to the RCPA updates of our testing algorithms in the light of emerging evidence. Prof Farshid is the series editor for the RCPA ICCR breast modules.