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.
The European Union has approved the use of the breast cancer drug Herceptin for use in patients with an early stage of the aggressive HER2-positive type of breast cancer.
A new study shows that breast cancer patients with an "amplification," or greater number of copies, of the TOP2A gene are 45% more likely than women who do not have this amplification to benefit from a longer course of anthracycline-based adjuvant chemotherapy.
Australia's medicines regulator, the Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) is considering a recommendation by its expert committee, the Australian Drug Evaluation Committee (ADEC), to conditionally approve an application by Roche Products Pty Limited to extend the registration of the breast cancer drug Herceptin (trastuzumab) for use in HER2 positive localised breast cancer in addition to chemotherapy.
Breast cancer patients with HER2-positive tumors who don't respond to Herceptin (trastuzumab) may benefit from cocktail therapy that includes Herceptin along with one or more PI3K inhibiting agents, say researchers at the University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center.
Breast cancer specialists and advocates at the 5th European Breast Cancer Conference (EBCC-5) called for patients to have equal and speedy access to new breast cancer treatments and procedures, as soon as they are validated by comparative clinical trials.
Researchers at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine have developed a paradigm-shifting method for detecting small amounts of proteins in the blood.
Basal-like breast cancers (BLC) are highly aggressive tumors with a relatively poor prognosis that account for approximately 15% of sporadic human breast cancer.
A mother of three in the UK suffering from the early-stage of an aggressive form of breast cancer, has lost her high court battle to force her health authority to pay for the potentially life-saving drug Herceptin.
Researchers at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute have identified a molecular interaction that triggers a particularly aggressive form of breast cancer, and suggest that attacking this target with selective drugs might improve treatment.
A new study suggests that antibody-based cancer drugs might help patients more if they are given with substances that stimulate the immune system.
New research into the cost of using the breast cancer drug Herceptin warns that healthcare authorities and the organisations advising them should not rush to prescribe it for early breast cancer without working out extremely carefully the budget implications and cost-effectiveness of the drug.
According to Belgian researchers a drug prescribed for women with advanced breast cancer would be cost-effective for treating some, but not all patients, in the early stages of the disease.
The Lancet medical journal which is both influential and well respected, has cast some doubt on the claims that Herceptin was "a cure" for breast cancer and has attacked the hype surrounding the treatment by the Government and the media.
Health managers in the UK have virtually been ordered to pay for the drug Herceptin for women with an aggressive form of breast cancer in its early stages.
People suffering from cancer will be encouraged by a cluster of recent reports on successful new treatments for several different forms of cancer.
The targeted drug trastuzumab, or Herceptin, previously shown to prolong survival in advanced breast cancer, dramatically reduced the chances of recurrence in patients with early-stage disease when given for one year following standard chemotherapy.
In a joint paper, co-authored by Mayo Clinic's Edith Perez, M.D., and Edward Romond, M.D., of the National Surgical Adjuvant Breast and Bowel Project (NSABP), researchers report complete and combined results of two trials comparing adjuvant chemotherapy with or without concurrent trastuzumab treatment in women with surgically removed HER2-positive breast cancer.
Johns Hopkins Kimmel Cancer Center researchers have linked alterations in a gene, called Rsf-1, to the most deadly ovarian cancers. The scientists say the discovery is the first to establish a role for the gene in ovarian cancer and may lead to a test that can predict, early on, which patients will develop aggressive disease.
A team from the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine has shown that by using a cancer vaccine based on the bacterium Listeria monocytogenes, they can cure mice with established breast tumors. Cancer vaccines, which are more properly described as immunotherapy, work by boosting an immune response against tumor-associated antigens.
Using a recently developed mouse model of breast cancer, a team from the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine has shown that Snail, a molecule normally important in embryonic development, can promote breast cancer recurrence.