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Cancer Treatment and Pharmacology / HER2/EGFR in Cancer Research · Journal article
Current Oncology · August 18, 2026
Encouraging direction, but not yet definitive.
This single-center retrospective analysis of 173 Chinese patients with HER2-positive metastatic breast cancer treated with T-DXd reports median PFS of 14.1 months and OS of 31.1 months, with objective response rates of 54.5% systemically and 46.3% in CNS disease, plus manageable toxicity (7.5% interstitial lung disease, all grade 1–2). The study lacks a comparator arm and the exploratory maintenance analysis is limited by acknowledged immortal-time bias and selection bias, preventing strong claims about treatment switching.
Single-center retrospective cohort study. 173 consecutive patients with HER2-positive metastatic breast cancer at a single Chinese cancer center; 80.3% had prior HER2-directed TKI exposure, 41.6% had CNS metastases.. Intervention: Trastuzumab deruxtecan (T-DXd). n = 173. Single Chinese cancer center.
Median PFS 14.1 months and median OS 31.1 months after median follow-up of 14.3 months in 173 patients Objective response rate 54.5% among 154 patients with measurable systemic disease CNS objective response rate 46.3% among 67 patients with measurable CNS lesions
Safety was not reported in the material analysed. Check the source before drawing any conclusion about harm.
These real-world outcomes for T-DXd in heavily pretreated HER2-positive metastatic breast cancer suggest clinically meaningful systemic and intracranial activity with manageable toxicity. However, clinicians should interpret maintenance therapy findings cautiously owing to documented immortal-time and selection biases; the study provides no evidence that switching from T-DXd improves outcomes.
Real-world retrospective cohort study demonstrating clinically meaningful efficacy and safety of T-DXd in heavily pretreated HER2-positive metastatic breast cancer, but limited by single-center design, lack of comparator arm, and acknowledged biases in maintenance analysis.
As stated by the source record.
Quoted from the source exactly as published.
These real-world outcomes for T-DXd in heavily pretreated HER2-positive metastatic breast cancer suggest clinically meaningful systemic and intracranial activity with manageable toxicity. However, clinicians should interpret maintenance therapy findings cautiously owing to documented immortal-time and selection biases; the study provides no evidence that switching from T-DXd improves outcomes.
Graded across the dimensions that decide whether you should act, each from what the source actually supports. There is no single score, and where a dimension was not assessed it says so.
We retrospectively analyzed consecutive patients with HER2-positive metastatic breast cancer who received T-DXd at a single Chinese cancer center between March 2023 and March 2026. Progression-free survival (PFS), overall survival (OS), systemic and intracranial response, safety, prognostic factors, and exploratory subsequent treatment strategies were assessed. Among 173 eligible patients, 80.3% had received prior HER2-directed TKIs and 41.6% had CNS metastases. After a median follow-up of 14.3 months, median PFS and OS were 14.1 and 31.1 months, respectively. The objective response rate was 54.5% among 154 patients with measurable systemic disease, while the CNS objective response rate was 46.3% among 67 patients with measurable CNS lesions. Among patients with measurable CNS lesions, the CNS-ORR was comparable between patients with and without peri-T-DXd local treatment (53.8% vs. 44.4%, p = 0.21). Greater prior treatment exposure was associated with shorter PFS, whereas HER2 IHC 3+ disease was independently associated with longer OS and showed a trend toward improved PFS compared with HER2 IHC 2+/FISH-positive disease. Interstitial lung disease occurred in 13 patients (7.5%), all grade 1–2. Among 148 patients included in the maintenance analysis, 23 switched to alternative maintenance regimens after initial benefit from T-DXd. In an exploratory analysis, no statistically significant differences in PFS or OS were observed between patients who continued T-DXd and those who switched to maintenance therapy. However, these findings require cautious interpretation because of immortal-time bias, selection bias, and limited sample size. T-DXd demonstrated clinically meaningful systemic and intracranial activity with manageable toxicity in this heavily pretreated real-world cohort.
Taken from the source record, never inferred. Follow any of these and new work involving them reaches your briefing.