Combo of Herceptin and chemo a cure for breast cancer

The latest research has shown that the combination of Herceptin and chemotherapy drugs is successful in treating women with aggressive breast cancer.

Drug company Roche carried out a study involving 1,510 patients, including 453 women with the HER2-positive aggressive form of breast cancer, in more than 100 breast cancer centres and conducted by two major German cancer research groups.

Aggressive though this particular form of breast cancer is it can be cured if it is caught early enough; 20% to 30% of all breast cancer cases respond to Herceptin and women with HER2-positive breast cancer can be successfully treated with the combination in the early stages of the disease before having a breast surgery.

The trial regime involved regular weekly injections of a mixture of Herceptin and a traditional chemotherapy drug and 45.5% of the women with HER2-positive form of the disease were found to have no cancer cell traces.

This is a significant improvement compared to the 30% tumour eradication seen among those having traditional chemotherapy treatment.

Although no serious side effects were reported the women were carefully monitored - both Herceptin and one of the chemotherapy drugs used have been linked to heart problems.

The trial results offer hope to women suffering from the aggressive form of the disease and also encourages early screenings for breast cancer as treatment in the earlier stages could prevent breast surgery.

The research was presented at the European Breast Cancer Conference in Berlin last week on by Michael Untch, of the Helios Clinics in Berlin.