In the United States, breast cancer affects as many as 1 in 8 women during their lives. It is the second-leading cancer killer of women, after lung cancer. But European scientists have made a discovery that could go a long with in the fight against this terrible disease.
Professor Nigel Bundred presented his findings at the European Breast Cancer Conference in Amsterdam, after testing the effectiveness of two drugs known as Lapatinib and Herceptin (also known as trastuzumab). While the two drugs are already in use to treat breast cancer, Bundred used the two drugs together and prior to any surgery and chemotheraphy. Incredibly, certain types of breast cancers were eliminated within 11 days.
Bundred’s research was funded by Cancer Research UK, and it aimed to use these drugs to target a protein known as HER2. This particular protein is known to stimulate the growth of breast cancer cells.
257 women with HER2-positive breast cancer were involved in the study. Half of the women were put on the drug combination, while the other half were used as the control group. The results? For those who took the drug combination, 11% had no more cancer cells within two weeks, and 17% had significantly smaller tumors. Meanwhile, the control group had 0% with no cancer cells, and 3% with smaller tumors.
As it stands, however, Herceptin’s licensing is such that it can only be made available with chemotherapy. As many of us know, chemotheraphy can wreak havoc on our bodies, causing vomiting, hair loss, pain, and fatigue. Hopefully, the findings from Bundred’s research will change the way this drug can be used.
