Olive oil and Her2 downregulation - question for the propellerheads

[RobinP]

Chrisy, I think your question alone demonstrates that you are perhaps a propellarhead yourself. I think you know the answer to your question too. I want to confirm what your concerns are via the posted article that Rhonda so kindly posted above. The p185 surface area was reduced following tx. with OA. Now, Herceptin also decreases the p185 surface area receptor site. When Herceptin and OA are given together, there is according to this article a synergistic reaction where both work to decrease the receptor site of p185, thus decreasing heterodimerzation with other deleterious her family members, such as her1 and her3. As the p185 receptor site is blocked with the help of herceptin and OA, phosphorlazation and the downward PI3K pathway is block to prevent cellular proliferation. As you can see H. and OA are working together to prevent cellular replication. However, in your trail, you are counting on the Herceptin and cytoxic agent to destroy the her2 molecule, not prevent it from replication as the study Rhonda posted. Therefore, you need all the Herceptin and cytoxic agent you can get into the p185 site in order to destroy THE HER2 MOLECULE. NO, YOU DO NOT WANT OA, IN THIS CASE, TO COMPETE WITH THE P185 RECEPTOR SITE. YOU WANT ALL THE CYTOXIC AGENT CARRIED BY HERCEPTIN INTO THAT HER2 SITE WITHOUT THE COMPETING OA, OA DOES NOT CARRY THE CYTOXIC AGENT. I WOULD DEFINATELY CUT OUT ALL OA IN YOUR DIET. IN FACT, I AM SURPRISED THAT THE TRAIL DOES NOT SPECIFY OA RESTRICTION. I WOULD WRITE A LETTER TO THE INVESTIGATORS ABOUT YOUR CONCERNS OVER OA.

RESULTS: Flow cytometric analyses demonstrated a dramatic (up to 46%) reduction of cell surface-associated p185(Her-2/neu) following treatment of the Her-2/neu-overexpressors BT-474 and SK-Br3 with OA. Indeed, this effect was comparable to that found following exposure to optimal concentrations of trastuzumab (up to 48% reduction with 20 microg/ml trastuzumab). Remarkably, the concurrent exposure to OA and suboptimal concentrations of trastuzumab (5 microg/ml) synergistically down-regulated Her-2/neu expression, as determined by flow cytometry (up to 70% reduction), immunoblotting, and immunofluorescence microscopy studies. The nature of the cytotoxic interaction between OA and trastuzumab revealed a strong synergism, as assessed by MTT-based cell viability and anchorage-independent soft-agar colony formation assays.

[chrisy]

Robin,
You restated my concerns EXACTLY, only it sounded much more impressive and scientific! At best, I'm an illiterate propellerhead! Maybe we can go into business together translating this stuff between "english" and "science".

You come to the same opinion I did, and I will definitely pose this question.

Lily - let me know what you find out on your end, it's an interesting question, isn't it? On the other hand, you are clearly doing very well on this drug, so by the "proof is in the pudding" standard it seems not to be hurting.

Brenda, I think you should be ok on the EVOO since for you reducing the amount of Her2 would still be a good thing. In fact, you could probably have my share, too! Ever chug a bottle of EVOO???

If I were to predict, I would guess that the doc's answer will be to avoid ingesting excessive amounts of oleic acid. But unfortunately I doubt the recommendation will be to go back to eating butter!

Hoping to hear some more people weigh in on this...

[Lolly]

This is an interesting thread. I've been wondering about this myself, only didn't quite know how to form the question coherently, so thanks Chris for bringing it up, it's really "food for thought".

<3 Lolly