New clinical trial has demonstrated the positive effects of the combination of drugs lapatinib and trastuzumab against HER2-positive breast cancer in just 11 days.
Led by researchers from the Research Institute of cancers in London, the University of Manchester and the University Hospital of South Manchester study consisted of 257 women with HER2 positive breast cancer were divided into two groups that were treated for 11 days before surgery for its removal. Women who were treated with a combination of drugs were compared with those who received only one or none of the drugs, and to access the results, samples were taken from cancer tissue once through the initial biopsy, and then during the operation. This was done in order to determine whether appeared to reduce the amount of protein Ki67, indicating the proliferation of cancer cells.
The results showed that not only protein decreased in those who received the combination drugs, but 11% of these women were classified as having a complete pathological response, which means that they have not found any active cancer cells. Additional 17% of the women so treated, however, showed minimal remnants of this type of cells.
Despite the extremely positive results, the researchers say they need further study and validation of the results.
The drugs lapatinib and trastuzumab are recommended rather than traditional chemotherapy in the case of breast cancer because they target and kill cancer cells with overexpression of the HER2 gene.
Worldwide, one in five women diagnosed with breast cancer have HER2 type, which is one of the more aggressive forms of the disease. Although the new combination of drugs is not a final cure, however, is a strong foundation for future research focused on the destruction of HER2 positive cancers.
No comments:
Post a Comment