Predictors of Recurrence after Neoadjuvant Chemo

[swimangel72]

Someone at bc.org just posted a link to this study - kind of depressing considering we are all Her2+ - but is this anything "new"?? I'm not great at interpreting studies, so can someone help make sense of this? Thanks so much!

Predictors of Recurrence (http://www.oncologystat.com/journals/journal_scans/Predictors_of_Recurrence_in_Breast_Cancer_Patients _With_a_Pathologic_Complete_Response_After_Neoadju vant_Chemotherapy.html)

Here's their "bottom-line":

Conclusion: Our study results suggest that HER2 status and axillary metastases are independent predictors of recurrence.

[Laurel]

It's tough to say, Kathy. The fact that Her-2 is a predictor of recurrence is NOT a new twist by any stretch. However, it does seem to indicate that Herceptin therapy did not preclude all recurrences in the stage 11 and stage 111 patients included in this study. We do know that catching Her-2 before it gets roaming about, meaning before it gets to the lymph, is beneficial, but it does not guarantee that there will not be a recurrence. Remember too, that recent studies have shown that being node neg. at dx does not mean that a patient cannot recur because some do. I think the reality is that Her-2, despite Herceptin, is still deadly in some cases. Remember the study regarding Her-3 and Her-4 that did not respond to Herceptin? There is still much they do not know about Her-2. Read Jean's post about GRB7, yet another twist to the Her-2 puzzle.

[Jackie07]

Kathy,

You are so right. There's nothing new to us.

Her2 breast cancer grows super fast. So it's likely for cancer cells to have travelled outside of the original surgical site. And because it is hard to destroy - Herceptin is good for treating Her2, but now they found Her3, Her4... That's why even if there's no lymphnode involvement in the initial diagnosis, it doesn't mean there's no cancer cells hidden somewhere else.

[swimangel72]

Thanks for your input Laurel and Jackie - you both make perfect sense - sometimes I wonder why they bother with some of these studies at all that just keep repeating what we already know........sometimes I wonder if a lot of research dollars are wasted on useless studies while the cancer wheel turns round and round. :-(