Herceptin - when does the year start?
 

Okay, this sounds like a silly question, but my cousin called yesterday and said her physician doesn't count the two loading doses and the following three doses in the year of herceptin. This means my cousin, Kathy, needs 5 more weeks of herceptin that she wasn't counting on. I didn't complete my year due to low MUGA scores so I was not able to answer her question, but is this a normal way to count a year? I told her, in my opinion, the more herceptin the better, it's insurance. She's having some side effects she could live without and not to mention the time involved for the "extra" treatments since she doesn't live real near her treatment center.

Thanks for any help on this, I will get the information to her. Have a great day!

Donna

My oncologist used 17 treatments as her measure. Multiplied by every 3 weeks, that amounts to one year. Well, 51 weeks.

The "counting" for me began with the first infusion (the loading dose) when my taxol started. I received it every 3 weeks.

Mary Jo

My onc started counting with the 2 loading doses, every three wks for a total of 52 weeks.

Mine counted them all, including the first - 17 tx in total, every 3 weeks for a year.

Hopeful

My first was my loading dose and then weekly there after for 51 weeks.

Donna
 

Is your cousin on the maternal side? I have been reading about a type of her2+ breast cancer which may be X-linked--inherited from mother to daughter on the X-chromosome and related to FoxP3 a gene necessary for the function of T-regulatory cells of the immune system. These familial cases seem to be of ER+her2+ breast cancer will be hard to identify as her2 status has only begun to be tested relatively recently.

Are there any other females on your mother's side with breast cancer?

Sorry to pry, but within this information may lie some answers as to how ER+her2+ breast cancer arises and how it best is treated.

Thanks for any info!

17 Herceptins for Me!
 

Hi Donna,

I had 17 treatments of Herceptin in total - including the loading dose - every 3 weeks - - so 51 weeks.

all the best
caya

HI Lani,

Though most of the post you just made is over my head, yes, my cousin is on my mother's side. My mother also had breast cancer and a recurrence, but has been cancer free for 15 years now. We don't know what her pathology was, she didn't keep it as a record and I would assume it's too old to be on file - not that her2 would be indicated anyway.

I would be interested in information on this subject - thanks so much!

Donna

My physician counts 1 year from the first dose. I recieved Herceptin weekly with my 12 Taxols. So I will have 9 more months of every 3 week Herceptin only. Confusing isn't it?
Cheryl

Donna, I think I read your ER % was close to 90
 

How high was your cousin's? Was she PR+?

Here are the top threea articles (One a commentary, actually) on the topic:

:
Related Articles, LinksMedema RH, Burgering BM.

The X factor: skewing X inactivation towards cancer.
Cell. 2007 Jun 29;129(7):1253-4. Review.
PMID: 17604714 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]



Related Articles, LinksZuo T, Wang L, Morrison C, Chang X, Zhang H, Li W, Liu Y, Wang Y, Liu X, Chan MW, Liu JQ, Love R, Liu CG, Godfrey V, Shen R, Huang TH, Yang T, Park BK, Wang CY, Zheng P, Liu Y.

FOXP3 is an X-linked breast cancer suppressor gene and an important repressor of the HER-2/ErbB2 oncogene.
Cell. 2007 Jun 29;129(7):1275-86. Epub 2007 Jun 14.
PMID: 1757048


5:
Related Articles, LinksZuo T, Liu R, Zhang H, Chang X, Liu Y, Wang L, Zheng P, Liu Y.

FOXP3 is a novel transcriptional repressor for the breast cancer oncogene SKP2.
J Clin Invest. 2007 Dec;117(12):3765-73.
PMID: 18008005 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]

To look them up go to google and enter "ENTREZ PUBMED" , then enter the PMID number of each into the rectangular bar hit go and "Voila!"