Until recently, there wasn’t really a standard to assess HER2 expression in urethral cancer, simply because there weren’t treatment options available. And this is quite distinct from other tumors, like breast cancer, gastric cancer, where in breast cancer, for sure, there’s been decades of experience now assessing HER2. So we’re learning from those tumor types, and the pathologists specifically, my pathology colleagues, are learning from those tumor types and using their expertise in those tumor types to assess HER2 expression in urethral cancers as well...
Until recently, there wasn’t really a standard to assess HER2 expression in urethral cancer, simply because there weren’t treatment options available. And this is quite distinct from other tumors, like breast cancer, gastric cancer, where in breast cancer, for sure, there’s been decades of experience now assessing HER2. So we’re learning from those tumor types, and the pathologists specifically, my pathology colleagues, are learning from those tumor types and using their expertise in those tumor types to assess HER2 expression in urethral cancers as well. Right now, we generally use modified gastric criteria to assess HER2 expression in urothelial cancers. Because generally speaking, it is thought that the expression of HER2 in urothelial is more similar to gastric tumors than to other types of cancers. So the main challenges right now, I think, is that it does take at least some time for the test to come back. However, because there is, again, expertise in these other tumors, where in many of these other tumors, it’s actually just done reflexively, like in breast cancer, for instance. Increasingly, I think we’ll be doing that more in urothelial cancers as well. And I think, given that now there is a standard of care treatment available for urethral cancers based on HER2 expression, so those that are HER2 high are indicated for trastuzumab, deruxtecan, it’s important to assess it in every metastatic patient to know the HER2 expression because for about 15% to maybe 20% of them, that will change current standard of care. Over the next several years, as more data comes out with a drug like disitamab vedotin, it may be a broader proportion of patients with somewhat lower HER2 expression that may also benefit from HER2-targeted therapies. And that’s why it’s especially important to know HER2 status for all those patients.
This transcript is AI-generated. While we strive for accuracy, please verify this copy with the video.
