At the recent European Society for Medical Oncology (ESMO) Congress, results from the Destiny-12 clinical trial of Trastuzumab Deruxtecan in metastatic breast cancer were presented. The UCD Cancer Trials Cluster contributed more patients to this study than any other Irish site and our contribution has been marked by co-authorship for Professor Michaela Higgins in the academic article in Nature Medicine ((opens in a new window)link here), published alongside the congress.

This important study confirmed very high response rates and good clinical outcomes provided by T-Dxd (trastuzumab deruxtecan) in the treatment of people with advanced HER2-positive breast cancer, particularly in patients with brain metastases.

HER2-positive breast cancer, a more aggressive subtype, accounts for around 15-20% of all breast cancer cases. Unfortunately, up to half of patients with advanced disease develop brain metastases, which significantly worsens their prognosis. This study, the DESTINY-12 clinical trial, is the largest prospective study to date focusing on the use of T-DXd in this patient group. The trial involved two groups of patients: one with brain metastases (263 patients) and another without brain metastases (241 patients). All participants had previously received at least one round of anti-HER2 therapy before starting the trial T-DXd treatment.

Professor Michaela Higgins, study author and UCD Cancer Trials Cluster Director, notes that:

"We have demonstrated that T-Dxd is an extremely active treatment for patients with HER-2 positive, advanced breast cancer and brain metastases. The treatment does come with significant potential side effects which we are becoming expert at managing. I am grateful to the wonderful patients and their families who took part in this important study which will guide treatment for future breast cancer patients. I am also proud of our team of research nurses who took tremendous care of all our patients and data managers who collated the study data efficiently and accurately”.

If you would like to read more of the research produced by the UCD Cancer Trials Cluster's researchers and trial units, you can find our publication list on our 'what we do' page here.