Latest HER2-positive breast cancer Stories

The HIV protease inhibitor, Nelfinavir, can be used to treat HER2-positive breast cancer in the same capacity and dosage regimen that it is used to treat HIV, according to a study published October 5 in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute. Breast cancer is one of the most common causes of cancer deaths in the U.S. with approximately 39,520 women succumbing to the disease in 2011. HER2-postive breast cancer is known to be more aggressive and less responsive to treatments compared...

Breakthrough Study Led by Rethink Breast Cancer Board Member TORONTO, June 4, 2012 /CNW/ - Today Rethink Breast Cancer (Rethink) celebrates new study results that bring hope to the more than 5,000 Canadian women living with HER2-positive breast cancer. The study, led by Dr. Sunil Verma, Medical Oncologist at Sunnybrook Odette Cancer Centre and Rethink Board Member, showed promising results for a new treatment for patients living with HER2-positive metastatic breast cancer...

Breast cancers expressing the protein HER2 have a particularly poor prognosis. Treatment with trastuzumab (Herceptin) benefits some patients with HER2-positive breast cancer, but it is not as effective as had been hoped. Researchers are therefore seeking ways to enhance the effectiveness of trastuzumab. In this context, a team of researchers led by Ronald Levy, at Stanford University, Stanford, has identified a sequential treatment regimen that enhances the effectivenss of trastuzumab in...

A large, multicenter, randomized study has shown that obese patients with HER2-positive breast cancer have larger tumors, increased lymph node involvement and, when not treated with trastuzumab, poorer long-term outcomes than normal-weight patients. This is the first time the relationship between obesity and HER2-positive breast cancer has been studied, according to Jennifer A. Crozier, M.D., a medical resident at Mayo Clinic, Jacksonville, who presented the results at the 2011 CTRC-AACR...

Data evaluated by an independent review committee revealed that the addition of bevacizumab to trastuzumab and docetaxel significantly improved progression-free survival in HER2-positive breast cancer, despite findings from an investigator assessment that the improvement was present but statistically non-significant. Luca Gianni, M.D., director of medical oncology at the San Raffaele Cancer Center in Milano, Italy, presented results from AVEREL, a randomized, phase 3 trial, at the 2011...

(Ivanhoe Newswire) -- The future looks bright for patients with HER2-positive breast cancer. A paper published in the October 6, 2011 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM), shows that new treatment regimens, providing a lower risk of cardio toxicity, are an acceptable and effective option for patients. The new study, by the Breast Cancer International Research Group, answers a critical question raised by four previously published trials; are adjuvant anthracyclines necessary...

Patients with HER2-positive breast cancer may have an alternative therapy when they develop resistance to trastuzumab, also known as Herceptin, according to a laboratory finding published in Clinical Cancer Research, a journal of the American Association for Cancer Research.Jacek Capala, Ph.D., D.Sc., an investigator at the National Cancer Institute, and colleagues designed, produced and tested HER2-Affitoxin, a novel protein that combines HER2-specific affibody molecules and a modified...

Combining targeted therapies might be required for maximum anti-tumor activity when treating HER2-positive breast cancers, according to two new studies by Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center (VICC) investigators.The findings, reported in two papers in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), suggest that upregulation of the HER3 receptor limits the effectiveness of two classes of targeted therapies (HER2- and PI3 kinase-targeted therapies). Therefore targeting HER3 together...

Among women with breast cancer, approximately 25% have a subtype that is characterized by high levels of expression of the protein HER2. HER2-positive breast cancer tends to be more aggressive than other breast cancer subtypes. Increased molecular understanding of why HER2-positive breast cancer is so aggressive could aid in the development of new therapeutics. By studying mouse models, a team of researchers, led by Lewis Chodosh, at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine,...

Genentech/Roche/Chugai's Drug in Combination With Herceptin and Taxotere Will Become Decision Resources Gold Standard Regimen by 2017, According to a New Report from Decision Resources WALTHAM, Mass., Feb. 11 /PRNewswire/ -- Decision Resources, one of the world's leading research and advisory firms for pharmaceutical and healthcare issues, finds that if Genentech/Roche/Chugai's Herceptin is approved in combination with emerging therapies, it will be in a position to retain patient share...