Publications

Abstract

Monoclonal antibodies including trastuzumab, pertuzumab, and antibody-drug conjugates, form the backbone of HER2-positive breast cancer therapy. Unfortunately, an important adverse effect of these agents is cardiotoxicity, occurring in approximately 10% of patients. There is increasing published data regarding prevention strategies for cardiotoxicity, though seldom used in clinical practice. We performed a systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized-controlled trials to evaluate pharmacotherapy for the prevention of monoclonal HER2-directed antibody-induced cardiotoxicity in patients with breast cancer. Online databases were queried from their inception until October 2021. Effects were determined by calculating risk ratios (RRs) and 95% confidence intervals (CI) or mean differences (MD) using random-effects models. We identified five eligible trials. In the three trials (n = 952) reporting data on the primary outcome of cardiotoxicity, there was no clear effect for patients assigned active treatment compared to control (RR = 0.90, 95% CI 0.63 to 1.29, p = 0.57). Effects were similar for ACE-I/ARB and beta-blockers (p homogeneity = 0.50). Active treatment reduced the risk of HER2 therapy interruptions (RR = 0.57, 95% CI 0.43 to 0.77, p < 0.001) with similar findings for ACE-I/ARB and beta-blockers (p homogeneity = 0.97). Prophylactic treatment with ACE-I/ARB or beta-blocker therapy may be of value for cardio-protection in patients with breast cancer prescribed monoclonal antibodies. Further, adequately powered randomized trials are required to define the role of routine prophylactic treatment in this patient group.