HER2 Support Group Forums - View Single Post - Attempting to increase rate of Herceptin efficacy,decrease rate of Hercptn resistance

julierene · 03-28-2006, 01:17 PM

Yes, it's a terribly complex maze. The geneticists still can't tell us what the reason for the rhabdomyosarcoma and adrenal cortical carcinoma at age 5 and why the women get breast cancer before age 28. We all have the same p53 mutation too - located at Exon 10, Arg337Cys. Hard to believe a little tiny amino acid created all this trouble. They call our case rare, but 10 years ago, they tried to find it, but didn't know enough about p53 to test Exon 10.

We aren't rare, the technology and science is. It's only a matter of time before they start figuring out more of the puzzle.

I've never felt like supplements and dietary factors were a factor to causing or preventing cancer. I took Fish Oil, Flaxseed Oil, and all sorts of Antioxidants. When I didn't know about the gene, I thought if I just ate right and did all the right things, I wouldn't get it till I was a Grandma. I couldn't escape my genetics.

I ate extremely well compaired to my mother - and STILL got cancer at the same age! I even thought I caught mine earlier at Stage 2a - but it didn't matter. I went straight to Stage 4 only 1.5 years after initial dx, and she lived till 33 years old. I may or may not. Hopefully with Herceptin working so well for me, I will. But I couldn't escape my genetics - neither could my children. No matter how well I supplement them or feed them, their cancer risk will remain 80% before the age of 50 - unless they find a way to fix our genes.

I think the scariest part is, I have had the gene all my life - and even the doctors never knew it. How many of us here on these boards are in that category? We may never know, while we still feel so compelled to blame it on everything else.

I'd never say it was all about genetics, but I think it's HUGELY TREMENDOUSLY more responsible than we know. In 100 - 200 years, I think we will have a much better understanding - and people will finally have the answers about why they got cancer at such a young age (as many of the women here are).

For older women, it's a different story in my humble opinion. Age is definetly responsible for failing immune systems - therefore cancer. In those cases, diet, supplements, and overall health - may be much more helpful.

But how do you explain a perfectly healthy young woman getting BC at 28 or even 18? How do you explain a perfectly healthy child getting rhabdomyosarcoma at age 5? And on and on... I think genetics will prove to probably be somewhere around 90% responsible for people under the age of maybe 40 and show a decreasing relationship of age and cancer genetic incidence. As you get older, cancer risk goes up, reguardless of genetics. The younger you are, the more of a chance I would think genetics are at fault.

I hear of babies getting things like melanoma, and the mother hasn't been exposing her fetus to the sun enough to do that! People seem so eager to blame it on the mother though - without genetics even entering their minds. Also, early onset Alheizmer's. I brought the topics up to some of my older relatives, and they insisted it had to do with the mother's diet or bad habits and the Alheizmer's was because they were just insane - they were too young to really have Alheizmer's.

They also believed that a punch in the stomach gave my Grandfather liver cancer and that my brother falling out of the tree was what caused his rhabdomyosarcoma. It seems like I'm trying to talk to someone who doesn't understand what DNA is. But hey, for them, they still believe it was the punch and the fall that "caused" their cancer. They are happy with that, cause it means there was something tangible to blame it on. We all know it takes time to develop cancer - it was the punch and the fall that alerted them to the problem - not the other way around. But I can't convince them.

But those are just my 2 cents. Maybe time will tell. It's such a terribly complex disease.

03-28-2006, 01:17 PM	#45
julierene Senior Member Join Date: Dec 2005 Location: Illinois Posts: 327	Yes, it's a terribly complex maze. The geneticists still can't tell us what the reason for the rhabdomyosarcoma and adrenal cortical carcinoma at age 5 and why the women get breast cancer before age 28. We all have the same p53 mutation too - located at Exon 10, Arg337Cys. Hard to believe a little tiny amino acid created all this trouble. They call our case rare, but 10 years ago, they tried to find it, but didn't know enough about p53 to test Exon 10. We aren't rare, the technology and science is. It's only a matter of time before they start figuring out more of the puzzle. I've never felt like supplements and dietary factors were a factor to causing or preventing cancer. I took Fish Oil, Flaxseed Oil, and all sorts of Antioxidants. When I didn't know about the gene, I thought if I just ate right and did all the right things, I wouldn't get it till I was a Grandma. I couldn't escape my genetics. I ate extremely well compaired to my mother - and STILL got cancer at the same age! I even thought I caught mine earlier at Stage 2a - but it didn't matter. I went straight to Stage 4 only 1.5 years after initial dx, and she lived till 33 years old. I may or may not. Hopefully with Herceptin working so well for me, I will. But I couldn't escape my genetics - neither could my children. No matter how well I supplement them or feed them, their cancer risk will remain 80% before the age of 50 - unless they find a way to fix our genes. I think the scariest part is, I have had the gene all my life - and even the doctors never knew it. How many of us here on these boards are in that category? We may never know, while we still feel so compelled to blame it on everything else. I'd never say it was all about genetics, but I think it's HUGELY TREMENDOUSLY more responsible than we know. In 100 - 200 years, I think we will have a much better understanding - and people will finally have the answers about why they got cancer at such a young age (as many of the women here are). For older women, it's a different story in my humble opinion. Age is definetly responsible for failing immune systems - therefore cancer. In those cases, diet, supplements, and overall health - may be much more helpful. But how do you explain a perfectly healthy young woman getting BC at 28 or even 18? How do you explain a perfectly healthy child getting rhabdomyosarcoma at age 5? And on and on... I think genetics will prove to probably be somewhere around 90% responsible for people under the age of maybe 40 and show a decreasing relationship of age and cancer genetic incidence. As you get older, cancer risk goes up, reguardless of genetics. The younger you are, the more of a chance I would think genetics are at fault. I hear of babies getting things like melanoma, and the mother hasn't been exposing her fetus to the sun enough to do that! People seem so eager to blame it on the mother though - without genetics even entering their minds. Also, early onset Alheizmer's. I brought the topics up to some of my older relatives, and they insisted it had to do with the mother's diet or bad habits and the Alheizmer's was because they were just insane - they were too young to really have Alheizmer's. They also believed that a punch in the stomach gave my Grandfather liver cancer and that my brother falling out of the tree was what caused his rhabdomyosarcoma. It seems like I'm trying to talk to someone who doesn't understand what DNA is. But hey, for them, they still believe it was the punch and the fall that "caused" their cancer. They are happy with that, cause it means there was something tangible to blame it on. We all know it takes time to develop cancer - it was the punch and the fall that alerted them to the problem - not the other way around. But I can't convince them. But those are just my 2 cents. Maybe time will tell. It's such a terribly complex disease.