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Lani · 06-14-2008, 09:26 AM

will get another chance to test the tissue for markers for which there are targetted therapies. Some lung cancers have EGFR and respond to Iressa (an oral tyrosine kinase inhibitor against EGFR just like tykerb is an oral tyrosine kinase inhibitor against EGFR and her2 (but doesn't work as well vs EGFR as vs her2)

Perhaps the specimen this time has changed or is more clearly one or the other.

One of the people writing and speaking about cutting-edge targetted lung cancer treatment at ASCO and in the literature is Dr. Roy Herbst of MD Anderson.

Try to put his name into PubMed (google Entrez PubMed) and see if something useful comes out.

It doesn't really matter what you call it "lung cancer" vs "breast cancer" it is what signalling pathways are driving the tumor ie, her2 vs EGFR vs others.

Perhaps the surgeon or pathologist will be willing to send it to Targeted Molecular Diagnostics (Robin P used them) for immunohistochemical staining to determine what targets are there to be "aimed" at.

Best of luck!

06-14-2008, 09:26 AM	#7
Lani Senior Member Join Date: Mar 2006 Posts: 4,783	An advantage of repeat resection vs RFA is that you will get another chance to test the tissue for markers for which there are targetted therapies. Some lung cancers have EGFR and respond to Iressa (an oral tyrosine kinase inhibitor against EGFR just like tykerb is an oral tyrosine kinase inhibitor against EGFR and her2 (but doesn't work as well vs EGFR as vs her2) Perhaps the specimen this time has changed or is more clearly one or the other. One of the people writing and speaking about cutting-edge targetted lung cancer treatment at ASCO and in the literature is Dr. Roy Herbst of MD Anderson. Try to put his name into PubMed (google Entrez PubMed) and see if something useful comes out. It doesn't really matter what you call it "lung cancer" vs "breast cancer" it is what signalling pathways are driving the tumor ie, her2 vs EGFR vs others. Perhaps the surgeon or pathologist will be willing to send it to Targeted Molecular Diagnostics (Robin P used them) for immunohistochemical staining to determine what targets are there to be "aimed" at. Best of luck!