In women with operable HER-2 positive breast cancer, the combination treatment of the antibody trastuzumab and chemotherapy has been found to improve survival.
Such were the findings of the meta-analysis of 5 trials involving more than 13,000 women with operable breast cancer, recently reported at the ESMO Conference Lugano by Issa Dahabreh from University of Athens:
The results showed that combining trastuzumab with chemotherapy results in a -34% reduction in mortality and a 38% increase in disease-free survival. Those survival benefits were accompanied by decreases in the risk of both locoregional and distant recurrences of the cancer.
Taken together, these results confirm that …read more

The good news that Herceptin® (trastuzumab) (the world’s first targeted therapy) is now available for many women with early-stage HER2-positive breast cancer, marks a significant advancement in breast cancer management.
According to Edith Perez, M.D., director of Mayo Clinic’s Breast Clinic in Jacksonville, Florida:
“…signifies the importance for women who are newly diagnosed with breast cancer to ensure the care they will receive is the best possible. Women have helped lead a revolution in the care of breast cancer, and now I think all patients should know all that they can do to help direct their care.
“…a million people are diagnosed with …read more

Increased levels of the oncogene HER-2 are associated with poor patient prognosis, enhanced metastasis (cancer spread) and resistance to chemotherapy.
Herceptin (trastuzumab) is the monoclonal antibody used in combination with certain cancer chemotherapies.
Researchers from the Northwestern University and Evanston Northwestern Healthcare found that Herceptin effectively treats breast cancer tumors that produce low or undetectable amounts of HER-2 but overexpress the growth factor heregulin (HRG), an activator of the HER-2 cancer oncoprotein. ‘
Before this finding it was believed that trastuzumab combined with cytotoxic drug therapy was effective only in HER-2—positive (or HER-2—overexpressing) breast cancer – a case that represents about 25 …read more