Therapy for HER2 Breast Cancer
A special issue of Cancers (ISSN 2072-6694). This special issue belongs to the section "Cancer Therapy".
Deadline for manuscript submissions: 1 February 2026 | Viewed by 25
Special Issue Editors
Interests: clinical oncology; medical oncology; breast cancer; clinical trial; drug development; molecular target medicine; antibody drug conjugate; cell signaling
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
HER2, a HER family member, is a receptor tyrosine kinase expressed on the cell membrane, and constitutive activation of the protein via overexpression or gene aberrations such as amplification or single nucleotide variation transforms epithelial cells to cancer as demonstrated in preclinical models (ref.). HER2-driven breast cancer is an aggressive and distinct form of disease that occurs in young adults in advanced stages. Cancer with HER2 pathway activation spreads to the central nervous system easily and becomes resilient to systemic therapies.
The discovery of HER2 as a driving molecule of cancer, followed by the development of a targeting agent, led to a breakthrough, and trastuzumab, the monoclonal antibody against HER2, has caused a paradigm shift and changed the landscape of therapy for HER2-positive breast cancer. Treatment evolved and was combined with pertuzumab, another antibody against a different epitope of HER2, and OS has been prolonged significantly with the dual blockade.
The advent of drug delivery systems such as antibody–drug conjugates (ADCs) further transformed the treatment of HER2-positive breast cancer, as shown in the pivotal trials of trastuzumab deruxtecan, and the disease has exhibited an increasingly more favorable prognosis with the ADC. This Special Issue will highlight the role of a new generation of HER2-targeting agents in their therapy, covering both basic and more (pre)clinical aspects that advance our understanding of targeting this pathway in breast cancer.
Prof. Dr. Junji Tsurutani
Dr. Sandra M. Swain
Guest Editors
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Keywords
- antibody–drug conjugate
- trastuzumab
- pertuzumab
- tyrosine kinase inhibitor
- trastuzumab deruxtecan
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