News tagged with herceptin
Scientists develop simple blood test to track tumour evolution in cancer patients
By tracking changes in patients' blood, Cambridge scientists have created a new way of looking at how tumours evolve in real-time and develop drug resistance. The research was published in the print edition ...
Cancer
May 03, 2013 |
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Certain breast cancer patients may benefit from combined HER2 targeted therapy without chemotherapy
Is the era of targeted therapy for breast cancer at hand? It could be, said experts at the Lester and Sue Smith Breast Center at Baylor College of Medicine – at least for a certain population of women.
Cancer
Apr 08, 2013 |
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Scientists find promising new target for aggressive breast cancer
Women with triple-negative breast cancer are more likely to have high levels of the MET biomarker in their tumours, making it a good new target for cancer drugs according to research published in the British Jo ...
Cancer
Mar 20, 2013 |
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New research challenges notion of using Herceptin only for HER2-positive breast cancer
New research from the University of Michigan Comprehensive Cancer Center finds that the protein HER2 plays a role even in breast cancers that would traditionally be categorized as HER2-negative – and that ...
Cancer
Feb 26, 2013 |
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US approves new targeted breast cancer drug (Update)
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has approved a first-of-a-kind breast cancer medication that targets tumor cells while sparing healthy ones.
Cancer
Feb 22, 2013 |
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Cancer drugs give Roche a 2012 profit boost
Growing demand for its cancer medicines and diagnostic tests used by clinical laboratories helped Swiss drug maker Roche Holding AG post a modest 2.4 percent increase in full-year profits.
Other
Jan 30, 2013 |
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Combination treatment may improve survival of breast cancer patients with brain metastases
Adding an angiogenesis inhibitor to treatment with a HER2-inhibiting drug could improve outcomes for patients with HER2-positive breast cancer who develop brain metastases. In their report published online in PNAS Plus, ...
Cancer
Nov 01, 2012 |
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Survivor of aggressive breast cancer stresses need for quick action
(HealthDay)—Margaret Zuccotti was nursing her third child in August of 2006 when she noticed that her breast was red, swollen and tender to the touch. Because she'd had other children, she chalked up her ...
Cancer
Oct 05, 2012 |
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New target found for cancers resistant to Iressa and Herceptin
A more-sensitive method to analyze protein interactions has uncovered a new way that cancer cells may use the cell-surface molecule HER3 to drive tumor progression following treatment with HER1 and HER2 inhibitors.
Cancer
Sep 04, 2012 |
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New Herceptin delivery method could vastly simplify breast cancer treatment
A new method of delivering a commonly used breast cancer drug could result in considerably less time spent in hospital for some women undergoing breast cancer treatment, according to the results of a Phase 3 trial published ...
Cancer
Aug 08, 2012 |
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Inflammatory pathway spurs cancer stem cells to resist HER2-targeted breast cancer treatment
Breast cancer treatments such as Herceptin that target a marker called HER2 have dramatically improved outcomes for women with this type of cancer. But nearly half of these cancers are resistant to Herceptin from the start ...
Cancer
Jul 19, 2012 |
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New breast cancer drug halts tumor growth better than standard therapy
A new cancer treatment that links chemotherapy with an agent that homes in on specific breast cancer cells was significantly better than the current drug regimen at keeping patients' advanced tumors from progressing, according ...
Cancer
Jun 03, 2012 |
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Balancing trastuzumab's survival benefits and heart risks for women with breast cancer
Adding trastuzumab (trade name Herceptin) to the treatment offered to women who have HER2-positive breast cancer, significantly increases the chance of life being prolonged, and reduces the chance of tumours reappearing once ...
Cancer
Apr 17, 2012 |
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Researchers uncover multiple faces of deadly breast cancer
An international team of scientists, including four at Simon Fraser University, has made a discovery that will change the way the most deadly form of breast cancer is treated.
Cancer
Apr 04, 2012 |
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Preliminary findings about whole-genome sequencing of triple-negative breast cancer presented
Because cases of Triple-Negative Breast Cancer (TNBC) are so genetically different, whole-genome sequencing is needed to detect the subtle molecular differences that might point to specific treatments for individual patients.
Cancer
Apr 02, 2012 |
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Trastuzumab
Trastuzumab (Herceptin) is a monoclonal antibody that interferes with the HER2/neu receptor.
The HER receptors are proteins that are embedded in the cell membrane and communicate molecular signals from outside the cell to inside the cell, and turn genes on and off. The HER proteins regulate cell growth, survival, adhesion, migration, and differentiation—functions that are amplified or weakened in cancer cells. In some cancers, notably some breast cancers, the HER2 receptor is defective and stuck in the "on" position, and causes breast cells to reproduce uncontrollably, causing breast cancer.
Antibodies are molecules from the immune system that bind selectively to different proteins. Trastuzumab is an antibody that binds selectively to the HER2 protein. When it binds to defective HER2 proteins, the HER2 protein no longer causes cells in the breast to reproduce uncontrollably. This increases the survival of people with cancer. However, cancers usually develop resistance to trastuzumab.
The original studies of trastuzumab showed that it improved survival in late-stage (metastatic) breast cancer, but there is controversy over whether trastuzumab is effective in earlier stage breast cancer.[citation needed] Trastuzumab is also controversial because of its cost, as much as $100,000 per year[citation needed], and while certain private insurance companies in the U.S. and government health care systems in Canada, the U.K. and elsewhere have refused to pay for trastuzumab for certain patients, some companies have since accepted trastuzumab treatment as a covered preventative treatment.
Trastuzumab was originally developed in mice, as a mouse antibody. Because humans have immune reactions to mouse proteins, it was later developed into a human (humanized) antibody. Because the antibodies were produced from one cell that was grown into a clone of identical cells, it is called a monoclonal antibody.
Trastuzumab is also being studied for use with other cancers. It has been used with some success in women with uterine papillary serous carcinomas that overexpress HER2/neu.
For more information about Trastuzumab, read the full article at
Wikipedia.
This text uses material from Wikipedia and is available under the GNU Free Documentation License.
