for all those to whom you have to explain why you are happy at today's news

[Lani]

Fresh use of targeted therapy advances treatment of early HER2-positive breast cancer: Researcher-clinician offers advice for navigating the new world of molecular treatment [The Mayo Clinic]
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — The news that the world's first targeted therapy, trastuzumab (Herceptin), is now available for many women with early-stage HER2-positive breast cancer "highlights a truly significant advance in the management of breast cancer," says Edith Perez, M.D., director of Mayo Clinic's Breast Clinic in Jacksonville, Fla.

Dr. Perez, who led one of the four pivotal studies that proved the drug's benefit in early-stage disease, says the approval of trastuzumab by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on Nov. 16 for this new use now allows physicians to manage an aggressive type of breast cancer much more effectively than just a few years ago.

It also signifies the importance for women who are newly diagnosed with breast cancer to ensure the care they will receive is the best possible, says Dr. Perez. "Women have helped lead a revolution in the care of breast cancer, and now I think all patients should know all that they can do to help direct their care," she says.

"We know that a million people are diagnosed with breast cancer in this world every year, and many are diagnosed with early disease that is potentially curable," Dr. Perez says. "This advance, and all the research continuing on novel therapies based on molecular markers in cancer, provides a brighter future for these patients."

Between 25 percent and 30 percent of breast cancer is HER2-positive, meaning that growth-promoting HER2 proteins are overly abundant on the outside of the cancer cells, promoting an aggressive disease.

Trastuzumab was landmark drug

Apart from skin cancer, breast cancer is the most common cancer in American women, and due to screening, more and more women are being diagnosed with the disease. But in the last decade, breast cancer's death toll has been steadily dropping — the average survival rate five years after treatment is now more than 88 percent, according to American Cancer Society. This can be attributed to improved understanding of the disease that has led to more effective treatments. HER2 pushes a cell to divide, and while a little on a cell is normal, a lot is not. No one knows why, in these so-called "HER2-positive" tumors, these proteins are over-expressed. But when this happens, cancer becomes aggressive.