HER2 Support Group Forums - View Single Post - for all those to whom you have to explain why you are happy at today's news

Lani · 11-17-2006, 02:51 PM

Conducted with the help of researchers nationwide and "the gracious patients" who participated, the study has since led to a change in treatment of women whose early-stage breast cancer is HER2-positive, Dr. Perez says.

It appears the hard work paid off. This change in treatment is now available outside the parameters of a clinical study. Today it's FDA-approved. "Our ultimate goal is to prevent cancer from returning," Dr. Perez says, "and this drug takes us closer to reaching the era when breast cancer will no longer be a lethal disease."

Empowering patients

Although this new era of molecular medicine may seem complicated, there is a lot that patients can do to help chart their own treatment course, Dr. Perez says.

Make sure your tumor biopsy is tested for biological markers. The standard of care today is that all women with invasive breast cancer should have tumor tissue marker tests to look for presence and quantity of the HER2 protein or HER2 gene. Other important tests need also to examine whether tumor growth is being driven by estrogen, and so they measure the abundance of estrogen receptor (ER) or progesterone receptor (PR) proteins. Women who already had a biopsy or tumor removal and know that it wasn't tested for one of the tissue tumor markers can ask their physician to contact the laboratory where the sample was analyzed and request a new test on the stored tissue.
Ask what kind of laboratory your biopsy samples will be sent to for testing. Dr. Perez recently published a study that found 12 percent to 18 percent of positive HER2 tests done in local labs are actually negative when tested at a central or reference laboratory that is experienced in finding the HER2 gene. That false positive means a significant number of patients could have been given therapies that could not possibly help them, while excluding them from treatments that could.
Discuss the results of this test with your physician. Tumors that are and are not HER2-positive may be positive for ER or PR, and those cancers can be treated with anti-hormonal therapy. Even within this group of hormone-sensitive cancers, tests exist. And, more tests are being developed to help determine which tumors might respond to chemotherapy and which may not need such treatment. Find out if your oncologist has access to these tests.

11-17-2006, 02:51 PM	#3
Lani Senior Member Join Date: Mar 2006 Posts: 4,778	more... Conducted with the help of researchers nationwide and "the gracious patients" who participated, the study has since led to a change in treatment of women whose early-stage breast cancer is HER2-positive, Dr. Perez says. It appears the hard work paid off. This change in treatment is now available outside the parameters of a clinical study. Today it's FDA-approved. "Our ultimate goal is to prevent cancer from returning," Dr. Perez says, "and this drug takes us closer to reaching the era when breast cancer will no longer be a lethal disease." Empowering patients Although this new era of molecular medicine may seem complicated, there is a lot that patients can do to help chart their own treatment course, Dr. Perez says. Make sure your tumor biopsy is tested for biological markers. The standard of care today is that all women with invasive breast cancer should have tumor tissue marker tests to look for presence and quantity of the HER2 protein or HER2 gene. Other important tests need also to examine whether tumor growth is being driven by estrogen, and so they measure the abundance of estrogen receptor (ER) or progesterone receptor (PR) proteins. Women who already had a biopsy or tumor removal and know that it wasn't tested for one of the tissue tumor markers can ask their physician to contact the laboratory where the sample was analyzed and request a new test on the stored tissue. Ask what kind of laboratory your biopsy samples will be sent to for testing. Dr. Perez recently published a study that found 12 percent to 18 percent of positive HER2 tests done in local labs are actually negative when tested at a central or reference laboratory that is experienced in finding the HER2 gene. That false positive means a significant number of patients could have been given therapies that could not possibly help them, while excluding them from treatments that could. Discuss the results of this test with your physician. Tumors that are and are not HER2-positive may be positive for ER or PR, and those cancers can be treated with anti-hormonal therapy. Even within this group of hormone-sensitive cancers, tests exist. And, more tests are being developed to help determine which tumors might respond to chemotherapy and which may not need such treatment. Find out if your oncologist has access to these tests.