THIS WEEK'S QUESTION

Q. My breast cancer overexpresses Her-2 neu. Is there a treatment for this?

A. Her-2 neu is a marker on some breast cancer cells. When it is "overexpressed," as it is in 25 to 30 percent of breast cancer patients, it is associated with a somewhat worse clinical outcome.

An immune-type drug (a monoclonal antibody) has been devised that homes in on this Her-2 marker. Its name is Herceptin. It works by inhibiting the growth of cells with Her-2 neu on their surfaces.

Herceptin was the rage of a big 1998 oncology meeting and was quickly given approval by the FDA. However, despite enormous favorable publicity at the time, the actual value of Herceptin is modest.

In a randomized clinical trial, the median time till the disease progressed was just 2.7 months longer when Herceptin was added to standard chemotherapy. And at one year about 10 percent more patients were still alive in the Herceptin + chemotherapy group than on chemotherapy alone.

TWO PERCENT COMPLETE RESPONSES

The response rate in the Phase III trial was 14 percent, with just 2 percent complete responses. And these complete responses were only observed in patients whose metastatic disease was limited to skin and lymph nodes, not the more common bone metastases. Understand that responses are tumor shrinkages that need only last one month or more to qualify.

One good thing is that Herceptin is relatively non-toxic. I wish it worked better.

We have a Moss Report on the topic of advanced breast cancer. Also please see my book, Questioning Chemotherapy, for an in-depth discussion of the way in which both the benefits and side effects of anticancer drugs are frequently misrepresented.

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In addition, Moss Reports clients can ask questions directly to Dr. Moss's associate, Anne Beattie by emailing her at TMRAnne@aol.com.

If you have questions about purchasing a Moss Report for a particular kind of cancer, you can call our office at 718-636-4433 or you can order your Moss Report BY CLICKING HERE via our secure order form, and ask your question in the box provided

Ralph W. Moss, Ph.D. is director of the The Moss Reports for cancer patients. Dr. Moss is the author of eleven books and three documentaries on cancer-related topics. He is or has been an advisor on alternative cancer treatments to the National Institutes of Health, the National Cancer Institute, the American Urological Association, Columbia University, the University of Texas, the Susan G. Komen Foundation and the German Society of Oncology. He wrote the first article on alternative medicine for the Encyclopedia Britannica yearbook. He is listed in Marquis Who's Who in America, Who's Who in the World, Who's Who in the East, and Who's Who in Entertainment (as a film documentarian). This Web site does not advocate any particular treatment for cancer. We urge you to always seek competent medical advice for all health problems, especially cancer. Before consulting our site please read our full Disclaimer statement.

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