PT - JOURNAL ARTICLE AU - ANNE BETHUNE-VOLTERS AU - MARC LABROQUERE AU - SYLVIE GUEPRATTE AU - KAMEL HACENE AU - RAINER NEUMANN AU - WALTER CARNEY AU - MARIE-FRANCE PICHON TI - Longitudinal Changes in Serum HER-2/<em>neu</em> Oncoprotein Levels in Trastuzumab-treated Metastatic Breast Cancer Patients DP - 2004 Mar 01 TA - Anticancer Research PG - 1083--1090 VI - 24 IP - 2C 4099 - http://ar.iiarjournals.org/content/24/2C/1083.short 4100 - http://ar.iiarjournals.org/content/24/2C/1083.full SO - Anticancer Res2004 Mar 01; 24 AB - Background: To evaluate longitudinal variations of serum HER-2/neu extracellular domain (sHER-2) in metastatic breast cancer patients receiving combined trastuzumab treatment. Patients and Methods: Thirty-three patients were monitored by serial sHER-2 ELISA (Oncogene Science). Results were compared to time to progression (TTP) and survival from treatment initiation. Non parametric statistical tests were used. Results: Median sHER-2 before first injection was 41.37 ng/ml (range 7.54-1597.00 ng/ml, n=32). Mean sHER-2 levels differed significantly between responders (n=20) and non responders (n=13) (p&lt;0.0001). Median TTP (266 days, range 35-1000 days) was unrelated to clinico-biological variables at diagnosis or number and site of metastases before treatment. Patients with pre-treatment sHER-2 levels ≤30 ng/ml (n=14) had a significantly longer TTP than the group with sHER-2 &gt; 30 ng/ml (n=18) (p=0.0346) and sHER-2 levels were of prognostic value for overall survival from first injection (p=0.0150). Conclusion: Our results show that monitoring serum HER-2/neu levels during metastatic breast cancer can provide a real time assessment of a woman's HER-2/neu status and can provide important information for therapeutic decisions. Copyright© 2004 International Institute of Anticancer Research (Dr. John G. Delinassios), All rights reserved