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.
Brightly fluorescent quantum dots and quantum rods are quickly becoming important tools for identifying specific molecules and cells in living systems. Two new reports demonstrate some of the ways in which cancer researchers are using these nanoscale imaging agents.
Using gene chips to profile tumors before treatment, researchers at Harvard and Yale Universities found markers that identified breast cancer subtypes resistant to Herceptin, the primary treatment for HER2-positive breast cancer. They say this advance could help further refine therapy for the 25 to 30 percent of breast cancer patients with this class of tumor.
Though there is little doubt that nanoscale devices are going to play a critical role in improving cancer detection and treatment over the next five to ten years, nanoparticles are already having a major impact on the way that cancer biologists study the processes that go awry within malignant and metastatic cells.
With the help of immune system-stimulating molecules that mimic bacterial components, researchers have used a type of cancer vaccine to both delay and prevent breast tumors in mice.
Iron oxide nanoparticles have shown promise as agents for detecting tumors using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), but such efforts have been limited by the relatively weak magnetic signal generated by these nanoparticles.
Cancer researchers hold great hope that nucleic acid-based therapeutics, such as anticancer genes, antisense oligonucleotides, and small interfering RNA (siRNA) molecules, will prove to be powerful antitumor agents.
Researchers have linked a structural protein called nestin to a particularly deadly form of breast cancer, identifying a new biomarker that could lead to earlier detection and better treatment.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has expanded the approved use of Herceptin, a biological cancer drug. The new indication is for Herceptin, in combination with other cancer drugs, for the treatment of HER2 positive breast cancer after surgery (lumpectomy or mastectomy).
Cancer biologists are always on the lookout for new methods of studying the effects that drug therapy has on malignant cells.
Roche on Friday announced it has submitted an application with the European Medicines Agency to market its breast cancer drug Herceptin as a treatment for women living with an aggressive form of advanced-stage breast cancer, called HER2-positive, and hormone receptor-positive breast cancer, AFX/Forbes reports (AFX/Forbes, 10/13).
A new breast cancer 'wonder drug' could be available to British women within a matter of months.
Johns Hopkins Kimmel Cancer Center scientists have completed the first draft of the genetic code for breast and colon cancers.
According to the latest research breast cancer wonder drug Herceptin puts some women at risk of heart problems.
Preliminary research suggests that a drug that targets a particular type of breast cancer might be more effective if patients are also given a substance made by the body that stimulates certain immune cells.
Findings support previous speculation that breast stem cells, or very early descendents, are the cells from which basal tumours arise.
Albumin nanoparticles have recently proven their mettle as anticancer agents with the 2005 approval of Abraxane to treat metastatic breast cancer.
For decades, researchers have tried to understand why breast cancer in younger black women is such a significant public health problem.
New 23-month follow-up data from HERA, one of the largest breast cancer trials ever carried out, show that Herceptin (trastuzumab) following standard chemotherapy significantly reduced the risk of death by 34% for women with early-stage HER2-positive breast cancer.
Experts have more good news on the breast cancer front; they say they by using a combination of therapies it may be possible to extend the lives of thousands of women with advanced breast cancer.
Drug giant Roche believes it has proof that its cancer drug Herceptin when used in combination with hormonal therapy increases the time that some breast-cancer patients live without the cancer progressing.