Please explain in English what being HER2 positive means?

[skoolmom]

I'm having a hard time explaining to friends and relatives what it actually means to be HER2 positive, I am ER,PR negative and I can explain that my cancer isn't estrogen driven that's easy to explain. I had four rounds of A/C and I had 4 weeks of Taxol/Herceptin - only 8 more weeks to go on the Taxol! I know that Herceptin is the miracle drug for those of us with HER2 positive and that I will be on that for a year or more if the trials prove that it is best to stay on it longer than one year. Maybe one of you have an easy to decipher explanation of what being HER2 positive actually means. Thanks for all your responses to my other questions I love this website and all of you! I posted this website on my onc's bulletin board and told everyone I have chemo with about it. I pray for all of us everyday, God Bless!

[Lolly]

Hi; Her-2/neu is a protein growth factor, and in that respect works much the same way as estrogen , which is a hormone growth factor. The receptor site on your cancer cell is specific to Her-2/neu rather than estrogen, and Herceptin works by locking onto that receptor site and blocking Her-2/neu from latching on (which is how Tamoxifen works to block estrogen driven cancers).

That's my very simplified version of what it means to be Her-2 positive. It does seem to help family and friends understand the need for maintenance Herceptin in my case.
Hope this helps!

<3 Lolly

[Lolly]

Skoolmom, I don't know if you've checked out the Her2 News section on this site. There's a link to Genentech's web site, which takes you to a pretty good tutorial on Her2 and Herceptin. To get there, click on "Home", then "Her2 Gene", then "What is Her2?" to get to Genentech's page. Also, here's a shortcut to the link:

Genentech
http://www.gene.com/gene/products/education/oncology/her2disease.jsp


<3 Lolly

[skoolmom]

Thanks Lolly I didn't ever notice that on the home page. It was really helpful. Tomorrow I go for #5 of Taxol/Herceptin, only 7 more to go! Take care of yourself and enjoy each day to the fullest! God Bless!