Posted on February 11, 2010.
Have you been diagnosed with breast cancer? It is important to current research on breast cancer and almost every day new discoveries are revealed. An important piece of information that will directly affect the four women who were diagnosed with breast cancer that Herceptin is highly effective in the treatment of breast cancer.
Herceptin is used to promote the benefits of chemotherapy and surgery, and now experts say it should be used to reduce the risk of cancer recurrence and overall health.
Herceptin is a drug that is very effective in the treatment of breast cancer at an early stage. It is specifically targeted against specific receptors in the body that increase the cancer. Approximately 25% of patients have tumors that are diagnosed with HER2 +, it is a receptor in the body called human epidermal growth factor Receptor 2. HER2 + tumors tend to grow and spread more quickly than others. Herceptin is particularly effective in the treatment of malignant + SA. the use of Herceptin is considered to reduce the risk of distant recurrence of disease by nearly 50%, which is a phenomenal rate of decrease in cancer risk.
HER2 + breast cancer is very aggressive and it becomes important to know the status of your HER2 breast cancer. This helps the doctor about medicines that can be useful.
Each cell is normal breast actually contains a copy of the HER2 gene, is something that allows normal cells to grow. The gene is found in DNA, and contains information for the production of the protein HER2.
Also called the HER2 protein, the HER2 receptor, is also on the surface of some normal cells. HER2 proteins send signals from outside to inside the cell to grow and divide.
In breast cancer is HER2 + cancer cells have an abnormally high number of HER2 genes in each cell. This extra HER2 protein appears on the surface of cancer cells and add to the rapid growth and multiplication of cancer cells. That's why HER2 + cancer is usually very aggressive.
Women who have been treated with Herceptin during or after chemotherapy and surgery show a remarkable improvement. The drug also reduces the chance of developing breast cancer in the other breast. Over a period of time, treatment with Herceptin showed significant reductions in the recurrence of breast cancer.
Experts now believe that Herceptin should be included as standard treatment for breast cancer treatment unless there is a specific reason not to. Even for people with early breast cancer, Herceptin is now considered an important treatment.