TGF-beta induced by chemo &/or radiotherapy :bad news & good news
 

The mice study linked below appears to confirm suspicions that chemo & radiation may induce TGF-beta as a side effect which has been found to be one of the factors promoting metastases in metastatic BC.
The good news is that, in mice, inhibition of TGF-beta prevented new metastases. More studies of TGF-beta are underway to find uses as monitoring or predictive marker.
http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releas...-tgf040207.php
Treatment-induced growth factor causes cancer progression

my question then is...
 

would using another anthracycline make things worse if in fact this was true for someone? I'm wondering if this isn't what happened in my case and my onc sees epirubicin in the future. I have maintained to her for several years that the A/C and radiation made no difference in my case and she is not sure. But since I recurred exactly where I'd been radiated and then we discovered a liver full of mets all within 2 years of stage I treatment I feel that I'm right on this (I feel I'm right on a lot of things, though:) ). SO my gut says to proceed with caution with anthracyclines.

Any thoughts from any of you really smart folks out there?

Joy,
For lack of sufficient knowledge I am sorry I can't answer your question but here is a 2006 article on second cancers:
http://www.cancer.org/docroot/MBC/co...p?sitearea=MBC
Second Cancers Caused by Cancer Treatment