Jeff...tamoxifin

[KathySC]

Jeff, some studies are pointing to the fact that when estrogen drops, HER2/neu increases. Perhaps using an estrogen inhibitor is like throwing gas on a fire if you already produce too many HER receptors even if you are ER+. Just a thought.

[jeff]

Thanks for that one, Kathy. I've seen references to it but not the actual abstract before. But as I'm reading, it suggests an experimental possibility that after LOTS and lots of hormone treatment for er+ tumors, lots of people lose their sensitivity to these drugs. So, this is proposing a theoretical way (after presumably, going through tamoxifen , a non-steroidal AI, a steroidal AI and a pure anti-estrogen like fulvestrant) to resensitize tumor cells to hormonal treatment. I'm not sure that it is suggesting an original relationship at the onset between estrogen deprivation and her2 growth...

Just my two cents...

Jeff

[KathySC]

Here is another article that fascinated me about the subject. This article is about inacurate HER2/neu readings due to the timing of the cycle inwhich the biopsy was taken, but I feel both these articles implement a relationship between the two. Hope you enjoy the article. Thanks,
Kathy