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Old 03-11-2005, 01:48 PM   #1
*_anne_*
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Hello,
I thought this except was interesting. They are talking about epithelial growth factor mutations in lung cancer being more common in women, non-smokers who have had some mutation of genes. I know Her2 is also epithelial factor mutation type cancer so I wonder if this type of BC is also responsive to Iressa. Is anyone on a trial or off-label used Iressa before and had good response? Here is the excerpt:

Gene Mutations Associated with Lung Cancer in Nonsmokers

A new study confirms previous reports that mutations in the EGFR (epidermal growth factor receptor) gene, which are associated with responsiveness to the lung cancer drug gefitinib (Iressa), occur preferentially in four subsets of patients: women, patients who have never smoked, Asians, and patients with adenocarcinoma.

The reason the mutations appear among these groups is not clear, but they can lead to the development of non-small-cell lung cancer, according to research in the March 2 Journal of the National Cancer Institute. In the largest such study to date, researchers profiled more than 600 lung tumors from patients in Japan, Taiwan, the United States, and Australia.

EGFR mutations were more common in females than males (42 percent vs. 14 percent), in never-smokers than in smokers (51 percent vs. 10 percent), in adenocarcinomas than in other types of lung cancer (40 percent vs. 3 percent), and in patients of East Asian ancestry than in other ethnicities (30 percent vs. 8 percent).

EGFR mutations are the first known to occur in nonsmokers with lung cancer, according to Dr. Adi F. Gazdar of the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas, who led the study. “We always believed that lung cancer in nonsmokers was due to exposure to second-hand smoke, but here we’re seeing very different changes at the molecular level in nonsmokers and smokers,” said Dr. Gazdar. “The implication is that there may well be factors that lead to cancer in nonsmokers other than second-hand smoke.”

Thanks,
Anne
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Old 03-12-2005, 09:45 PM   #2
al from canada
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Dear Anne,
My understanding is that Iressa has been a major disappointment in the trial results for breast cancer, to the point where I wouldn't be surprised if they pulled it altogether. Iressa is a targetted therapy very similar to lapatinib as a small molecule tryrosine kinase inhibitor. All the buzz about lapatinib seems very positive and I would persue that option first.
Kindest Regards,
Al
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Old 03-14-2005, 10:46 AM   #3
*_jeff_*
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I think that Al is right that so far Iressa hasn't shown much activity in bc. But there is still some information out there (preclinical) that it might be very helpful in combination (at the San Antonio conference last year there was a paper on Iressa, along with pertuzumab and herceptin and maybe tamoxifen--am i remembering right?) that showed complete regression in mice....

Jeff
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