Adriamycin for Her2

[Sandy H.]

My nurse in oncolgoy was telling me (she is the head nurse) that it is true that Adriamycin is being looked at whether Her2 patients should be getting it. It is now believed it may spread the cancer. I have been hearing this and so thought I would ask. Anyone interested in researching this let the rest of us know what you find out. I know there are some on this board that have some good resources for information. Hugs, Sandy

[Cathy W]

I've never heard this and would be very interested in reading the research.

[lauren]

WHO believes it may spread the cancer? That is a terrible thing if it is true.

[jeff]

Hello Sandy and all,

I hate to be make assumptions about your nurse, Sandy, and maybe I've just missed this information about adriamycin--although I like to think that I've been keeping up on stuff pretty well as it breaks into the major journals.

But it really sounds to me like it is possible that the nurse misspoke when she said "adriamycin." It has been pretty well accepted that adriamycin is a "good" chemo choice for her2+ breast cancer--whatever that means. It certainly doesn't mean that it's 100 percent effective. No chemo is.

There have been concerns raised for awhile--but in a very focused way lately--that in her2+ disease tamoxifen encourage the "spread" of tumors. Because of this concern there is much work being done--both in the lab and in clinical trials to see if other agents--particularly herceptin and iressa--might forestall this effect and make tamoxifen useful to women with her2+ disease.

I hope this makes sense. And of course I might have totally missed something about adriamycin. But if anyone really wants the citations I've read about her2/tamoxifen, I could find them with a little digging.

Best to all,
Jeff
All the best,
Jeff

[Linda in Calif]

Jeff: Could you please send your information on Tamoxefin to me...my Onc. and I have been going round and round about it. Thanks in advance. Linda