login
Become a member
Quick Registration
Full Registration Benefits -
Free Homepages for Doctors
Free Homepages for Hospitals
Free Homepages for Medical Conference
Free Homepages for NGO's
Personal Health Record Creation
Access to all Medical Slides
Access to all Jobs & Products Sale
Antracyclines may Be the Answer to HER2-positive Breast Cancer
December 29, 2007 at 12:30 PM
Drug News
Randomized clinical trials have demonstrated that treating early breast cancer with anthracycline-based chemotherapy improves disease-free and overall survival rates more than non-anthracycline-based regimens. However, the studies have demonstrated that anthracyclines may slightly increase the risk of heart damage and leukemia. Given these side effects, the greatest benefit of these regimens may be in women with breast tumors that overexpress HER2a gene that is often amplified in tumors that respond to anthracyclines.
Alessandra Gennari, M.D., Ph.D., of the National Cancer Research Institute in Genoa, Italy, and colleagues compiled data from eight randomized controlled trials that compared anthracyclines and non-anthracyclines, and also reported HER2 status. Almost 30 percent of the patients tumors overexpressed HER2.
Overall and among patients with HER2-positive tumors, anthracycline-based chemotherapy produced a greater reduction in the risk of relapse or death than non-anthracycline-based regimens. However, among patients with HER2-negative tumors, there was no difference in survival between the chemotherapy regimens.
The absence of any effect of anthracyclines observed in patients with HER2-negative disease suggests that this group of patients could be spared unnecessary toxic effects related to the use of this class of agents and raises questions as to the appropriateness of control arms in randomized clinical trials in which anthracycline-based regimens are used in unselected patient populations, the authors write.
|
|
|
More News on: Women and Cancer, Breast Biopsy, Pagets disease of the breast, Mastitis, Cancer and Homeopathy, Breast Cancer Facts, Cancer Facts, Cancer, Breasts - Structures and Types, Breast Lumps
 Comment & Contribute
|
Medwonders Health Network
- Health News Index
 | Quiz on Cancer Looking for information on cancer? Go through medindia's Cancer quiz. 
|
- News Quick Links
 | News Central | | Health Watch | |
| Latest Health News | | Health In Focus | |
| News Category (500+) | | Breaking Health News | |
| Popular News | | Celebrating Life | |
| Health News and Press Release | | Medindia - Exclusive | |
| News Photo Gallery | | India Special | |
| News Video Gallery | | Lifestyle and Wellness | |
| News From Other Resources | |||
 |
Cancer
Complete Medindia Resources
|
| News Categories: |
| » | HCCI Report Says Rising Prices for Care Responsible for Increased Healthcare Costs for Privately Insured Americans |
| » | Treatment in ED is Based on Children's Insurance Status |
| » | US Spends Most on Healthcare Without Providing Superior Care |
| » | South Carolinas Taxpayers Will Not Have to Pay for Abortions in Rape Cases |
| » | Companies Try to Avoid Steep Health Insurance Bills by Rewarding Employees For Healthy Lifestyles |
| More Insurance News | |
|
Drug Related News |
||||||||
| » | Prednisolone Benefits Patients With Bell's Palsy | » | 'Orphan' Sleep Drug may Fight Cancer | |||||
| » | New Drugs for Fox Tapeworm Infection | » | Poor Quality Antimalarial Drugs Pose Threat | |||||
| » | New Drug Shows Promise Against Localized High-risk Prostate Tumors | » | Arthritis Drug Effective Against Amoebic Parasites | |||||
| » | New Drug Candidates Offer Route to Controlling Inflammation | » | Antibiotics Excessively Used To Fight Multidrug-Resistant Bugs as Last Resort' | |||||
| Read More >> | ||||||||
