HER2 Diagnostics in Gastric Cancer

Since the approval of trastuzumab (Herceptin® Genentech/Roche) – a humanized monoclonal antibody directed against the HER2 receptor – as the first targeted therapy in advanced gastric cancer in February 2010, the analysis of HER2 status in gastric cancer has evolved to be a very important task. The data of the ToGA trial showed that patients with HER2 protein over-expression benefit from this type of anti-HER2 therapy (1). An ongoing phase III clinical trial with lapatinib in gastric cancer (LOGiC) is also dependent on accurate HER2 based patient stratification.

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