According to the American Cancer Society s estimate, over 280,000 new cases of invasive breast cancer will be diagnosed in women in 2021, explains Xiaoting Zhang, PhD, professor and Thomas Boat Endowed Chair in UC s Department of Cancer Biology, director of the Breast Cancer Research Program and member of the University of Cincinnati Cancer Center, who led this research. Like many other cancers, breast cancer cells are fueled by mutations and overproduction of driver genes, which lead the process of cancer development.
He says one of these genes, called HER2 (human epidermal growth factor receptor 2), accounts for about 20% of all human breast cancer cases, and while there are some therapies to target it, unwanted side effects and treatment resistance often occur in patients, causing relapse.