Each year there are many who are diagnosed with breast cancer. In the US, 2,100 men are diagnosed with breast cancer, and at an even higher rate of 240,000 cases in women. With these diagnoses, not many survive, leaving 42,000 of women and 500 men to die from breast cancer, and with a higher rate in African American women. I have lost a great aunt who died at the hands of breast cancer. She seemed to have gotten rid of it from the first time diagnosed with breast cancer. The second time, many years later, it was back and it was metastatic. After the many years past her death, research has invented new drugs that may lower overexpression of breast cancer cells that have a receptor that has high numbers of its gene which lowers the survival and may have effects of responses to different chemotherapy and administration of hormonal agents. This particular gene is the HER2, it must be targeted in treating some breast cancers.
Due to the overexpression of HER2 found in 30% of invasive carcinomas. This lead to detection of fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH), that is connected to the increase in shredded fragments of the extracellular domain. The introduction of a drug, that helps lower death rate in metastatic breast cancer is Trastuzumab. This has clinical prognostication that detecting HER2 in the response to the drug.
It was tested that patients who receive therapy after the progression combined with chemotherapy, and receiving trastuzumab for the metastatic disease had a lower rate of death at one year, and a 20% reduction of risks that lead to death from the metastatic cancer. Though, it is not clarified if the chemotherapeutic agent, whether it is effective with trastuzumab, there are some hypersensitivity-like reactions. These reactions can be prevented with antihistamines, anti-inflammatory drugs, and some corticosteroids drugs.
In the most recent trials, it was reported that administering adjuvant trastuzumab with paclitaxel and used for a year with chemotherapy, resulted in disease free survival of 91%. If this drug were around sooner, I may still have my great aunt with the administration of these treatment drugs combined with chemotherapy.
Work Cited
Hudis, Clifford (2007) Trastuzumab — Mechanism of Action and Use in Clinical Practice. CA. NEJM 357:39-51, http://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMra043186
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (2023) Basic Information About Breast Cancer, retrieved from https://www.cdc.gov/cancer/breast/basic_info/index.htm#:~:text=Each%20year%20in%20the%20United,What%20Is%20Breast%20Cancer%3F
I'm sorry to hear about your aunt. This is an interesting post though. I had no idea these drugs were even available yet. Have you found anything on their responsiveness with other medications on-board for cancer patients? Many cancer patients are on a host of medications for their symptoms. I wonder if these cancer drugs have any concerning interactions with common symptom relieving medications.
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