New testing for HER-2 positive breast cancer encouraging

HER-2 positive breast cancer, a more aggressive type of breast cancer than HER-2 negative, was thought to right away mean a frightening prognosis. However, researchers who are using a new way of testing for HER-2 status are finding that it’s not always as grim as doctors once thought.

First of all, what is HER-2? HER-2 is a protein called human epidermal growth receptor-2. This particular protein encourages or promotes growth of cancer cells in any type of cancer. For some reason, about one third of breast cancers have much more of HER-2 than other cancers due to a gene mutation that can be found through testing.

Over time, doctors learned that women who had HER-2 positive status did much worse than those who were negative, so it became a standard for assessing the outcome for each patient. But, what researchers have learned is that, like everything, this may not be so cut and dry. Using a more precise type of testing, they’ve discovered that they can be more precise, called MammaPrint.

Rather than writing a whole new thing about it, it’s probably best if you read about it from someone who interviewed the founding researcher and wrote about it in the article New Testing Methodology For HER2-Positive Breast Cancer Reveals That Not All Patients Are At Risk for Reoccurrence.

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Tags: cancer blog, HER2 positive breast cancer