What Is the Newest Treatment for Breast Cancer?
Question by mohammad r: what is the newest treatment for breast cancer?
Best answer:
Answer by rosieC
New Drug Approved for Advanced Breast Cancer
This new treatment may help delay the progression of breast cancer in some
by HealthDay News
(Mar. 23, 2007) — A new drug that delays breast cancer progression in women no longer responding to Herceptin has been approved by the U.S. FDA.
In combination with chemotherapy, the new drug, Tykerb (lapatinib), did a better job of curtailing cancer growth than did a chemotherapy drug alone.
Herceptin is a drug effective against tumors with too much of a protein called HER-2.
“Today’s approval is a step forward in making new treatments available for patients who have progression of their breast cancer after treatment with some of the most effective breast cancer therapies available,” said Dr. Steven Galson, director of the U.S. FDA’s Center for Drug Evaluation and Research.
Tykerb, which comes in pill form, is made by GlaxoSmithKline, which funded the clinical trial. The results of the trial were announced last June.
About 8,000 to 10,000 American women die from metastatic HER2-positive breast cancer each year, the FDA said.
Tykerb is among a class of drugs called kinase inhibitors. It deprives tumor cells of signals they need to grow. But it differs from other cancer drugs in that it actually enters cells and blocks the function of the HER2 protein.
Some 20 to 25% of breast cancers have abnormally high levels of the HER2/neu receptor and, as a result, are generally more aggressive. Herceptin (trastuzumab) blocks activity of the receptor by binding to the part of the receptor outside the cell. Tykerb, by contrast, binds to a part of the receptor inside the cell.
Answer by kinkygal
The main treatments for breast cancer are
* Surgery
* Radiotherapy
* Hormone therapy
* Chemotherapy
* Biological treatments (Herceptin)
You may have any of these treatments, or all of them, depending on your situation. It is impossible to generalise about breast cancer treatment because there are so many different sets of circumstances. Your doctor will take many different factors into account when deciding how to treat you. Some of the factors to be considered are
* Whether you have had your menopause
* The type of breast cancer you have
* The size of your breast tumour
* The stage of your breast cancer
* The grade of your cancer cells
* The results of tests on your cancer cells
* Your general health
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