A two-year long clinical trial conducted around the world shows a
drug and chemotherapy combination can lengthen the survival for patients
with HER2-positive metastatic breast cancer. The author of the
CLEOPATRA study says the findings give patients with an aggressive
disease hope to live a longer life.
Dr. Sandra Swain of MedStar
Washington Hospital Center is the study's author. She says that this
could be the start of a very promising future for these patients.
"It
really is dramatic results. To have a 16-month improvement in survival,
we've never seen that before. It really is unprecedented," says Dr.
Swain.
HER2-positive tumors are aggressive and spread quickly. In
this study, patients received two cancer drugs, Perjeta and Herceptin,
that together target the HER2 gene along with chemotherapy.
"They block any kind of signaling or talking that these proteins have to the cell to make it grow," according to Dr. Swain.
Another
plus: the tumor shrinks in nearly 80 percent of the patients who
received this combo. Dr. Swain added, "And those patients who have their
tumor shrink it stays small for eight months longer than if they just
gotten Herceptin."
Dr. Swain says if you are fighting
HER2-positive breast cancer, now is the time to ask your doctor about
this regimen. The combination is currently being tested in patients who
have tumors at an early stage.
"I see that as a potential cure if it actually works well in the early stage as it has in the advanced stage," she told us.
She's not using the term cure lightly.
"I've
spent my life trying to find a cure, so I really believe that. I really
believe that these drugs have the potential for doing that," Dr. Swain
told us.
No comments:
Post a Comment