Clinical development and current role of margetuximab for the treatment of breast cancer

Drugs Today (Barc). 2021 Sep;57(9):551-558. doi: 10.1358/dot.2021.57.9.3319148.

Abstract

Up to 20% of breast cancers overexpress HER2, a molecular alteration conferring these tumors a particularly aggressive behavior. However, targeting HER2 has radically changed the prognosis of this disease in the last 2 decades, with multiple anti-HER2 compounds shown to improve disease outcomes both in the early and advanced setting. The latest anti-HER2 compound to be approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) was margetuximab, an Fc-engineered monoclonal antibody with an improved binding to FcγRIIIA receptor, which leads to a greater antibody-dependent cellular cytotoxicity (ADCC) activation compared with trastuzumab. Margetuximab was shown to slightly improve progression-free survival compared with trastuzumab when combined with chemotherapy for the treatment of advanced HER2-positive breast cancer patients, and is now included among the available treatment options for pretreated HER2-positive breast cancer patients. In this monograph we recapitulate the clinical development, current role and future perspectives of margetuximab for the treatment of breast cancer.

Keywords: Anti-HER2 agents; Breast cancer therapy; Cancer immunotherapy; Margetuximab; Monoclonal antibodies; Oncolytic drugs.

MeSH terms

  • Antibodies, Monoclonal / adverse effects
  • Antibodies, Monoclonal, Humanized
  • Breast Neoplasms* / drug therapy
  • Female
  • Humans
  • Receptor, ErbB-2
  • Trastuzumab

Substances

  • Antibodies, Monoclonal
  • Antibodies, Monoclonal, Humanized
  • Receptor, ErbB-2
  • margetuximab
  • Trastuzumab