Several new treatments offer hope for making future treatment easier for women with breast cancer. One of them is Herceptin. Herceptin is a drug commonly used to treat women who have a certain type of breast cancer. This drug slows or stops the growth of cancer cells by blocking HER2, a protein found on the surface of some types of breast cancer cells. Approximately 20 to 25 percent of breast cancers produce too much HER2. These "HER2 positive" tumors tend to grow faster and are generally more likely to return than tumors that do not overproduce HER2. Results from two recent clinical trials show that those patients with early-stage HER2 positive breast cancer who received Herceptin in combination with chemotherapy had a 52 percent decrease in risk in the cancer returning compared with patients who received chemotherapy treatment alone.
No cancer treatment works for every person because every person who has HER2+ breast cancer is unique. Your experience may be different from those of the women who participated in the clinical trials. Further, because of the aggressive nature of HER2+ breast cancer, the status of these women may change over time. Thus, it is important to discuss potential treatment benefits and risks with your doctor and to have realistic expectations of Herceptin therapy.
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