HER2 Support Group Forums - View Single Post - Genetic step leading to her2 breast cancer development found

Christine MH-UK · 04-04-2006, 12:39 PM

From the U. of Chicago:

Widely used anti-nausea drug may interfere with cancer chemotherapy

March 15, 2004

A drug widely used to prevent nausea and other side effects in patients receiving chemotherapy for breast cancer may also, unfortunately, prevent the therapy from working efficiently on tumor cells, researchers from the University of Chicago report in the March 1 issue of the journal, Cancer Research.

Dexamethasone--a synthetic steroid--is routinely given to women just before they receive chemotherapy with either paclitaxel or doxorubicin, two drugs commonly used to treat breast cancer. In this laboratory study, the researchers show that pretreatment with dexamethasone reduces the ability of paclitaxel and doxorubicin to kill cancer cells.

There is more on this at:

http://www.uchospitals.edu/news/2004...315-chemo.html

The more technical Pubmed link is:
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/q...=pubmed_docsum

There is nothing specifically her2 about this, but dexamethasone is a fatty-acid synthase inducer, when many articles on her2 (such as those by Dr. Javier Menendez at Northwestern) seem to focus on the importance of fatty acid synthase inhibition for chemosensitivity, so it might be more relevant for her2 cell lines.

Of course, nothing has been proven in people.

What are the alternatives to dexamethasone and are they less problematic? I am thinking particularly about pre-meds before taxanes, where the dexamethasone is an important part of the therapy.

04-04-2006, 12:39 PM	#9
Christine MH-UK Senior Member Join Date: Sep 2005 Posts: 414	There have been concerns about Dexamethasone From the U. of Chicago: Widely used anti-nausea drug may interfere with cancer chemotherapy March 15, 2004 A drug widely used to prevent nausea and other side effects in patients receiving chemotherapy for breast cancer may also, unfortunately, prevent the therapy from working efficiently on tumor cells, researchers from the University of Chicago report in the March 1 issue of the journal, Cancer Research. Dexamethasone--a synthetic steroid--is routinely given to women just before they receive chemotherapy with either paclitaxel or doxorubicin, two drugs commonly used to treat breast cancer. In this laboratory study, the researchers show that pretreatment with dexamethasone reduces the ability of paclitaxel and doxorubicin to kill cancer cells. There is more on this at: http://www.uchospitals.edu/news/2004...315-chemo.html The more technical Pubmed link is: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/q...=pubmed_docsum There is nothing specifically her2 about this, but dexamethasone is a fatty-acid synthase inducer, when many articles on her2 (such as those by Dr. Javier Menendez at Northwestern) seem to focus on the importance of fatty acid synthase inhibition for chemosensitivity, so it might be more relevant for her2 cell lines. Of course, nothing has been proven in people. What are the alternatives to dexamethasone and are they less problematic? I am thinking particularly about pre-meds before taxanes, where the dexamethasone is an important part of the therapy.