# Efficacy of Pyrotinib combined with Trastuzumab in the treatment of patients with human epidermal growth factor receptor-2 positive breast cancer

## TL;DR

Combining Pyrotinib with Trastuzumab improves treatment outcomes for HER-2 positive breast cancer without increasing side effects.

## Contribution

Demonstrates that combining Pyrotinib with Trastuzumab enhances tumor response and immune function in HER-2 positive breast cancer patients.

## Key findings

- The combined group had a higher tumor response rate (94.81%) compared to Trastuzumab alone (84.93%).
- The combined treatment significantly reduced tumor marker levels more than Trastuzumab alone.
- The combined treatment improved immune function markers without increasing toxic side effects.

## Abstract

To analyze the efficacy of Pyrotinib combined with Trastuzumab in the treatment of human epidermal growth factor-2 (HER-2) positive breast cancer (BC).

This was a retrospective study that enrolled 150 patients with HER-2 positive BC admitted to Hengyang Medical School, University of South China from January 2021 to October 2023. Among them, 73 patients were treated with Trastuzumab alone (Trastuzumab group), and 77 cases were treated with combined Pyrotinib and Trastuzumab (combined group). Tumor response, tumor marker levels, immune function, and incidence of toxic side effects were compared between the two groups.

Tumor response of the combined group (94.81%) was significantly higher than that of the Trastuzumab group (84.93%) (P<0.05). After treatment, the levels of carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA), carbohydrate antigen 153 (CA153), carbohydrate antigen 125 (CA125), carbohydrate Antigen 19-9 (CA19-9), COX-2, DcR3 and Caspase-3 in both groups were significantly reduced compared to pretreatment levels, and were significantly lower in the combined group compared to the Trastuzumab group (all P<0.05). After treatment, the levels of CD3+, CD4+, and CD8+ in both groups were significantly reduced compared to before treatment, but the combined group was higher than the Trastuzumab group (all P<0.05). There was no significant difference in the incidence of toxic side effects between the groups (P>0.05).

Compared with Trastuzumab alone, a combined regimen of Pyrrolitinib and Trastuzumab is equally safe, and improving immune function, reducing the level of tumor markers, and improving tumor response in patients with HER-2 positive BC.