Paclitaxel and Her2-neu
 

Hello Everyone,

Since I have always gotten a straight and informed answer from this site I thought I would ask the following:

I was reading an abstract of an article (Diindolylmethane (DIM) and Paclitaxel Act Synergistically to Promot apoptosis in HER2/Neu Human Breast Cancer Cells, Jan 2006, Journal of Surgery) and came across a reference to the resistance of HER2-neu tumours to chemotherapy. As an aside, the article noted that HER2-neu overexpression confers resistance to paclitaxel. Unfortunately I could not access the full text of the article. Has anyone heard of any studies looking at the resistance of HER2-neu tumours to paclitaxel or the other taxanes?

Keep well,

Carina

Carina,

Have a look at this article; I think it explains Her2 resistance to Paclitaxel pretty well:
http://clincancerres.aacrjournals.or.../6/12/4607.pdf

Hopeful

Am I understanding the article correctly? Taxol and herceptin are a good thing. Taxol with herceptin is a great combination?


Hopes so cause that's what I was on. :-)

Mary Jo

Only read page 1, but I think the article is saying without Herceptin, Her2+ cancer tends to be resistant to AC and Taxol. With Herceptin, things look much better. BB

Carina,

What the article says is that Her2 overexpression (that is to say, Her2+++) confers resistance to Paclitaxel. Adding an inhibitor such as Herceptin counters this effect (is a good thing) and increases the effectiveness of the paclitaxel.

So, Herceptin + a taxane is synergistic and is a good thing.

Thanks for all of your helpful comments and the link to the article. One of the reasons why I was concerned is because I only received Herceptin with Taxol for 2 of my 4 treatments. Due to my allergy, the Herceptin was discontinued and I received Taxol alone for the next two. I have heard that Herceptin can be in your system for up to 6 months, so I am hoping that there was enough still in me to continue to have an effect on the efficacy of the Taxol.
Hoping to be back on Herceptin by November. Currently my oncologist and allergist are working with an oncologist at Harvard to develop a protocol to get me back on Herceptin. Keeping my fingers crossed.

Take care,

Carina