The HER2 (human epidermal growth factor receptor 2) gene is part of a family of genes that play roles in regulating cell growth. The protein it makes is a tyrosine kinase growth factor receptor that a number of normal tissues express and which probably has a role in normal cell function, regulating growth and proliferation.
Findings published in the December 1, 2008, issue of Clinical Cancer Research , a journal of the American Association for Cancer Research, show lapatinib benefits women with HER2-positive breast cancer, while women with HER2-negative breast cancer or those who express EGRF alone derive no incremental benefit.
Two critical properties of cancer cells are their ability to divide without restraint and to spread away from the primary tumor to establish new tumor sites.
Two critical properties of cancer cells are their ability to divide without restraint and to spread away from the primary tumor to establish new tumor sites.
Women with a certain type of breast cancer have been given hope in the form of a vaccine which promises to eliminate the cancer tumours.
Researchers at Wayne State University have tested a breast cancer vaccine they say completely eliminated HER2-positive tumors in mice - even cancers resistant to current anti-HER2 therapy - without any toxicity.
Researchers at the Barbara Ann Karmanos Cancer Institute and Wayne State University School of Medicine have developed a HER2 DNA vaccine that has shown to be effective on drug resistant tumors in mice. The study was reported in the September 15 issue of Cancer Research, a journal of the American Association for Cancer Research.
Sarah Cannon Research Institute (SCRI) investigators have found that "smart bomb" therapies are effective in treating breast cancer patients while minimizing side effects.
Breastfeeding for at least six months might lower the risk of developing so-called "triple negative" breast cancer, an aggressive form of the disease that is more common in black and younger women, according to a study published on Monday in the journal Cancer, the Seattle Post-Intelligencer reports (Paulson, Seattle Post-Intelligencer, 8/24).
Factors such as age at menopause as well as a woman's breastfeeding practices can influence her risk of developing certain types of breast cancer. That was the conclusion of a new study published in the October 1, 2008 issue of CANCER, a peer-reviewed journal of the American Cancer Society. The study's results suggest that there are distinct and separate hormonal risk factors associated with different subtypes of breast cancer.
Australian scientists have identified a way of switching off a molecule, which plays a key role in the process that triggers breast cancer and certain forms of leukaemia.
Australian scientists have identified a way to 'switch off' a molecule, a key player in the molecular processes that trigger breast cancer and certain forms of leukaemia.
Using laboratory and mouse models of human breast cancer, researchers have found that a small molecule capable of targeting specific proteins on the surface of breast cancer cells can inhibit the growth of breast cancer cells that migrate to the brain.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has approved a novel genetic test for determining whether patients with breast cancer are good candidates for treatment with the drug Herceptin (trastuzumab).
Scientists at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute report they have blocked the development of prostate tumors in cancer-prone mice by knocking out a molecular unit they describe as a "powerhouse" that drives runaway cell growth.
An international trial of a new breast cancer drug has shown the drug is able to shrink tumours caused by one of the most aggressive forms of the disease.
A new international study for women with HER2-positive breast cancer is open for enrollment. The pivotal BETH (BEvacizumab and Trastuzumab Adjuvant Therapy in HER2-positive Breast Cancer) study is a Phase III clinical research trial that is investigating the benefits of combining two monoclonal antibodies, the anti-angiogenic, bevacizumab (Avastin) and the targeted therapy trastuzumab (Herceptin), together with chemotherapy for the treatment of patients with early stage HER2-positive breast cancer.
New research says chemotherapy often fails to totally eliminate breast cancer because it does not knock out breast cancer stem cells.
The lesson learned in eradicating dandelions from your yard could apply in treating breast cancer as well, said researchers from Baylor College of Medicine in Houston in a report that appears online today in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute.
The latest research has shown that the combination of Herceptin and chemotherapy drugs is successful in treating women with aggressive breast cancer.
Women with a particularly aggressive form of breast cancer seem to do better if they are treated with a combined anthracycline and taxane chemotherapy regimen before surgery, together with trastuzumab (Herceptin) before and after surgery, according to results from the largest multi-centre trial to investigate this treatment.