I am wondering again if there is any information from the discussions about HER2 in regard to the use of HER2 by oncologists when deciding what treatment is appropriate? For women who are dx'd HER2 positive initially and who try to use the online predictors the predictors don't include HER2 as a factor but oncs do. Is there any reason why the 1/3 of women diagnosed with bc who end up HER2+ can't have better online predictors?
I have to say that of all the BC info only about 10% is about HER2. I recently went to another support group and was appalled to see that they lumped all Her2 patients as Stage IV, if not now sometime in the future. It sadden's me to think that people need to feel better so it is easy to pick on the HER2 BC patients saying that their prognosis is POOR. If I read another online article like that I am going to Scream. It is difficult enough to deal with this disease without landmines waiting like that at most websites. You raise a good point about not enough being said about this type of cancer. The only bright light is that pharmaceutical companies and vaccines under way have a lot of targeted therapy against HER2. Thanks to the people in this web site for providining valuable information and compassion.
About the HER2 research - I learned a lot that I did not know about my disease at San Antonio. As the docs at the mentor sessions spoke of blocking pathways and such they talked about success against the HER1 and HER3 paths that tumors will find a way to utilize to get around Herceptin blocking the HER2. They now are finding ways to target these other pathways and limit and stunt the constant relapses that we Stage IV gals have to contend with.
The research is quite hopeful and I found that the best news is the goal of giving more than one monoclonal antibody to get patients to NED and keep them there. They seem to be trying to phase out chemo if possible! The nano-science presented was amazing and helped me to get inside some of the the onc's thinking, as they don't normally talk to patients on this complex level.
This just scratches the surface of what I gleaned. I will try to share more if I get some time to put my thoughts and notes together.
Hi Steph,
I have read studies of mutiple monoclonal antibody administration with outstanding results, mostly in vitro. Any word of these new ones in trials or hitting the market soon? The closest thing we have so far are the Vaccine trials.
Al
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