Potentially more effective treatment for HER2 mutant metastatic breast cancer miragenews.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from miragenews.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
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Credit: Sanford Burnham Prebys
LA JOLLA, CALIF. - May 19, 2021 - A study led by scientists at Sanford Burnham Prebys Medical Discovery Institute has identified a tumor marker that may be used to predict which breast cancer patients will experience resistance to endocrine therapy. The research offers a new approach to selecting patients for therapy that targets HER2, a protein that promotes the growth of cancer cells, to help avoid disease relapse or progression of endocrine-sensitive disease.
The study was published in the journal
Nature Communications.
Nearly 80% of breast tumors are estrogen receptor (ER)-positive. For decades, these tumors have been treated with anti-estrogen (endocrine) therapies to lower estrogen levels and help slow the cancer s growth. About 20% of breast cancers are also HER2-positive at diagnosis, and these tumors tend to be more aggressive and fast-growing, as HER2 is a receptor that when active, promotes the rapid growth of breast cancer cel