Saito A, Yoshida H, Nishikawa T, Yonemori K. Human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 targeted therapy in endometrial cancer: Clinical and pathological perspectives. World J Clin Oncol 2021; 12(10): 868-881 [PMID: 34733610 DOI: 10.5306/wjco.v12.i10.868]
Corresponding Author of This Article
Hiroshi Yoshida, MD, PhD, Staff Physician, Department of Diagnostic Pathology, National Cancer Center Hospital, 5-1-1, Tsukiji, Chuo-ku, Tokyo 1040045, Japan. hiroyosh@ncc.go.jp
Research Domain of This Article
Oncology
Article-Type of This Article
Minireviews
Open-Access Policy of This Article
This article is an open-access article which was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
World J Clin Oncol. Oct 24, 2021; 12(10): 868-881 Published online Oct 24, 2021. doi: 10.5306/wjco.v12.i10.868
Human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 targeted therapy in endometrial cancer: Clinical and pathological perspectives
Ayumi Saito, Hiroshi Yoshida, Tadaaki Nishikawa, Kan Yonemori
Ayumi Saito, Tadaaki Nishikawa, Kan Yonemori, Department of Breast and Medical Oncology, National Cancer Center Hospital, Tokyo 1040045, Japan
Hiroshi Yoshida, Department of Diagnostic Pathology, National Cancer Center Hospital, Tokyo 1040045, Japan
Author contributions: Saito A, Yoshida H, Nishikawa T, and Yonemori K contributed equally to this work.
Conflict-of-interest statement: All the authors have no conflict of interest to declare.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article that was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/Licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Corresponding author: Hiroshi Yoshida, MD, PhD, Staff Physician, Department of Diagnostic Pathology, National Cancer Center Hospital, 5-1-1, Tsukiji, Chuo-ku, Tokyo 1040045, Japan. hiroyosh@ncc.go.jp
Received: February 26, 2021 Peer-review started: February 26, 2021 First decision: June 7, 2021 Revised: June 14, 2021 Accepted: September 2, 2021 Article in press: September 2, 2021 Published online: October 24, 2021
Abstract
Endometrial cancer is the most common gynecological cancer in developed countries, and its incidence has increased. The majority of patients with endometrial cancer have an early disease and favorable prognosis; however, a significant proportion of endometrial cancer, which mainly comprises high-grade or type II endometrial cancer such as serous, clear cell, and carcinosarcoma, shows advanced/recurrent disease and dismal prognosis. Novel therapeutic development is required for patients with aggressive endometrial cancers. Recent genomic and immunohistochemical analyses revealed human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2) overexpression/gene amplification in 20%-40% of patients with type II endometrial cancer. Historically, HER2 targeted therapy has been developed for various major cancers, including breast and gastric cancer. Notably, recent advances in HER2 targeted therapy for patients with type II endometrial cancer are also expected to change. Simultaneously, an optimized HER2 test for endometrial cancer as companion diagnostics should be established. In this review, we summarize the recent findings on endometrial cancer, current treatment, optimized HER2 testing, key clinical trials on HER2 targeted therapy, and future directions in aggressive endometrial cancer, including serous carcinoma and carcinosarcoma.
Core Tip: Endometrial cancer is the most common gynecological cancer in developed countries, and its incidence has increased. A significant proportion of endometrial cancer, which mainly comprises high-grade or type II endometrial cancer, including serous carcinoma and carcinosarcoma, shows a dismal prognosis. Recent molecular analyses revealed human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2) overexpression/ gene amplification in 20%-40% of patients with type II endometrial cancer. Notably, HER2 targeted therapy for type II endometrial cancer has been dramatically developed. We review the recent findings on endometrial cancer, current treatment, optimized HER2 testing, key clinical trials on HER2 targeted therapy, and future directions in these aggressive endometrial cancers.
