Clinical therapeutic effects of trastuzumab in HER2-positive breast cancer patients: A protocol for systematic review and meta-analysis

BACKGROUND: Despite the developments in diagnosis and treatment of HER2-positive metastatic breast cancer, there is a high likelihood in the development of resistance to trastuzumab. In general, HER2-positive patients with deteriorated health face negative clinical outcomes. The present study is conducted to systematically explore the medicinal properties of trastuzumab in HER2-positive breast cancer patients. METHODS: Randomized controlled trials investigating the clinical properties of including trastuzumab to treat HER2-positive breast cancer cases will be sourced by exploring these online-based databases: MEDLINE, BIOSIS, China National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI), Cochrane Library, EMBASE, Central Register of Controlled Trials, and WanFang. Two independent authors will screen the literature, gather data, and assess the quality of selected studies. The significance of the relationship between the medical properties of trastuzumab when incorporated to treat HER2-positive breast cancer cases will be evaluated according to the relative risk, mean differences or standardized mean differences, and 95% confidence interval. RESULTS: The outcomes from this review shall be issued in a journal that will be reviewed by peers. CONCLUSION: The conclusions presented in this review will serve as a reference for clinical practitioners and scholars to determine whether trastuzumab is an effective and safety intervention for treating HER2-positive breast cancer patients. ETHICS AND DISSEMINATION: Since this study is a systematic review of published studies, an ethical approval is not needed. SYSTEMATIC REVIEW REGISTRATION NUMBER: March 31, 2021.osf.io/wvqkf (https://osf.io/wvqkf/).