Tamoxifen Benefit for Breast-Cancer Patients Tied to Inherited Gene

[Unregistered]

It just keeps getting more complicated.

RB


http://www.emaxhealth.com/98/4753.html

Abstract

One of the most commonly administered drugs for breast cancer, tamoxifen, may not be as effective for women who inherit a common genetic change, according to researchers at Mayo Clinic and the University of Michigan. The genetic change affects the levels of a crucial liver enzyme, Cytochrome P4502D6, responsible for tamoxifen metabolism.

Up to 10 percent of Caucasian patients have an inherited genetic change that affects tamoxifen metabolism - and appear to be at higher risk of relapse while receiving tamoxifen.

[saleboat]

So...what are we supposed to do with this info? (Besides freak out? Although as Christine sagely points out "Worrying never cured anyone".)

Has anyone ever been tested for this enzyme? I'm on tamoxifin currently, and while there's conflicting evidence regarding its efficacy when combined with Herceptin, my Onc (per Sloan Kettering protocal) is not going to make any changes. But perhaps I should get tested for this enzyme just to be sure?

Jen

[Unregistered]

It is the classic problem to post or not to post. Would you rather remain in ignorance of possible problems, or be better informed but with more difficult choices.

If you are going to speak to your onc you may also wish to look a previous post on tamoxifen and cyclin D1, where concerns were expressed that tamoxifen had a negative effect. (use search engine above)

I am afraid the sad truth is the more one reads the more one realises that there are many questions about treatments how they work that are simply not known, and outlooks change as knowledge advances. This is nothing new in the history of medicine.

I came from knowing very little approaching a year ago to having read a great deal and realising how complex and individual it all is, how much is simply not known in terms of the bodies function, and coming to the conclusion that the place to start and maintain as a foundation has to be diet, which is a great deal more powerful than is generally realised, has limited side effects, and if nothing else is likley for most people to impove general health, and provide a basis for a better level of overall health during treatments.

It is a great shame there is not more education on the subject of cancer and the body's mechanisms so people had a better grasp of what they are trying to deal with, and the status of treatments, in the overall plan.

There is wonderful research going on but for me we are a long way from a cure in any sense - the condition is simply too individual, the bodies capablility for adaption too high, and the expression of many of the factors effects many other body mechanisms for single even multiple agents to provide any real "cure" in the shorter term, and will they be affordable, all of which points to looking at the other end cause and prevention in the interim.

I am sorry if the post worried you, I can understand how it must feel if you don't have the time to spend hours trying to make sense of even the smallest fraction of a corner of what is an truly vast subject - just one gene or body chemical can be the subject of thousands of trials. Hopefully your questions to your advisor will help keep him or her informed in their hectic shedule and so better able to help you.

I continue to be amazed how complex and wonderful the body's functions are, and how closely it is tied to what we fuel it with.

RB

RB

[saleboat]

No apology necessary. And I appreciate the info. Just get overwhelmed when trying to figure out what to do with it.

Jen