Lani

I believe anyone with enough motivation can learn enough to find relevant articles and even interpret them on a basic level.

Not everyone on this site is a pharmaceutical rep, nurse, pharmaceutical rep or biochemist.

Joe and Al had no background in the biologic sciences from what I understand, yet they have quickly "boned up" by not being intimidated.

I was discouraged to read the term "layman" as it is a self-fulfilling title. I do not doubt in the least the ability of each of the women posting on this site to understand the issues--especially as it turns out MUCH MORE IS UNKNOWN THAN IS KNOWN and everything has to be read "with a grain of salt" Rather than "laymen" there are only persons who have not yet overcome the inertia to start helping themselves in the best way possible--becoming knowledgeable.

If you were transported to Mongolia, you would start to learn the language as it was necessary for you to survive. Your diagnosis has transported you even further away, and, although it is nice to trust your doctor, there is no one more motivated than you to fight your cancer and in all likelihood, kids, husband and all, no doctor with more time than you to research only your type of cancer.

I have voluntarily supplied literature and attended lectures/conferences for friends with NK Tcell lymphoma, alveolar rhabdomyosarcoma, triple negative breast cancer etc--these people ranged from 70 year old bond traders to 40 year old file clerks to 50 year old art dealers. Each took the effort and educated themselves and understood the articles almost as well as someone who had had chemistry and physiology in high school or college--and none of them had! I do my best communicating with individuals on a one on one basis. I had NEVER posted to an online board prior to her2 and have found it often frustrating. It is not my FORTE' and I constantly waver between wishing to share information (like Rhonda H) and feeling it is not a productive use of my time.

I never mind "translating" and educating, but find it fulfilling on a one on one basis and mostly annoying in this forum as I sense people just want to be "spoon-fed". It is natural to become passive and hope someone else will get them out of this fix but you are not babies, but multi- talented women albeit with little sense of intellectual self-worth.

YOU CAN DO IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!Don't underestimate yourself. The web has dictionaries, your local library has physiology texts and there are a lot of lectures available on CD.

I hesistated posting these two articles anyway as I thought they might only cause concern without providing a positive message. But seeing that people are looking to find side-effects of Herceptin should not only be frightening, but reassuring, as it shows someone is looking and until one recognizes the problem, they can't look for a solution!

So here is a short translation--perhaps my last!(sorry for the rant):

I started the post with my summary:
"For those complaining of nasal/sinus symptoms which they relate to Herceptin, the following two articles may hold clues as to what may be going on. The nose/airways have ciliated epithelial cells (lining cells with tiny hairs which help trap bacteria, molds and other particulates) and other specialized cells (including further down the "airways" in the bronchi and bronchioles). These articles raise questions which may help explain symptoms while on Herceptin--showing that her2 is necessary not just in embryogenesis, but also in adulthood for repair of these kinds of cells. They may help explain your nasal complaints, the reports of rare pulmonary problems in patients on Herceptin and perhaps the dry-eye problem I posted on before. The more they look into what her2 does, the more they find!:"

A “translation” of the “Greek” of the two articles:

Because of a case of a patient whose airways changed when Herceptin treatment was started and when Herceptin was stopped in terms of which types of specialized cells were present/absent they tried in a petri dish to see what happens to airway cells and found:

Trastuzumab treatment decreased the ciliated cell number by 49% and increased the metaplastic, flat cell number by 640%.

Thus the cells necessary to fight infection were more than halved and the cells with little specialized function, which do not secrete or trap bacteria, mold or particles went up by more than 6 fold.

In the other article, after bronchitis or other diseases where a white blood cell enzyme injures airway (bronchial) lining tissue her2 is necessary to repair the damage caused by this enzyme in an adult. The "Greek" is just describing how they proved the mechanism of how this occurs, at what step it occurs and whether the changes were on a gene or protein level.

Both articles emphasize that her2 fulfills physiologic functions in an adult and Herceptin can potentially adversely affect those functions. Epithelial cells are numberous throught the body--they line organs facing the "outside world"(which is sometimes inside as in the stomach and intestines) they function to keep infectious and dangerous particles out, secrete substances to lubricate and or digest, etc. Her2 seems to be necessary to keep these cells specializiing to serve different necessary functions and to repair/replace damaged cells.

Thus it seems it is not just the heart that Herceptin affects.