Tykerb and Herceptin together??

[Ceesun]

I noticed that some on this site are treated with both together...why do some docs do this? Is it standard protocal or are they going with the big guns at once?? Merci! Ceesun

[Bill]

Initially, Nikki was on the clinical trial/study of Taxol and Tykerb(Lapatinib) and Herceptin at the same time. I'm not an expert, but I think the Tykerb is one of two chemo. drugs that can cross the blood/brain barrier to help out there, and Herceptin stifles the over-expression of the Her2 gene, so they play two different roles and work well together. Does that sound right? What's the other drug that crosses the blood/brain barrier?

[doh2pa]

I've just recently started Herceptin and Tykerb together along with Carbo and Abraxane to fight liver mets. Herceptin and Tykerb are currently being studied to see if they work well together (seems like they would since their mechanisms are different). So we await hard data, but because of the seriousness of my condition as of late, my onc felt there were more reasons to think there might be benefits (tykerb crossing BBB for sure!) with less fear of the risks (more heart issues with both??).