Herceptin boost to battle against breast cancer

A BREAST cancer wonder drug could eradicate tumours and reduce the need for mastectomies in half of all women suffering from the most severe form of the disease.

Herceptin became available in Ireland last year to treat the early stages of an aggressive form of breast cancer called HER2 which affects a third of all breast cancer patients, or almost 420 Irish women each year.

Research published this week shows the drug eradicates tumours in over half — 55% — of women suffering from inflammatory HER2 when it is used before chemotherapy.

The findings presented at the European Cancer Conference in Barcelona, found that the use of Herceptin with chemotherapy lead to a complete disappearance of the tumour in the breast in 55% of patients, compared to 19% in chemotherapy alone.

This makes it three times more effective than chemotherapy — higher than previously thought.

The combination also led to a complete disappearance of the tumour from both the breast and lymph nodes in 48% of patients, compared to 13% of patients who only had chemotherapy.

About five women are diagnosed with breast cancer every day in Ireland and one in 12 Irish women will develop breast cancer at some point in their life.

More than 420 cases each year are the HER2 form, which means the tumours spread quickly, often leading to a full mastectomy and a worse chance of survival.

Inflammatory HER2 is quite rare, affecting about 2% of all breast cancer patients, but the proportion is growing and the disease is especially severe.

Dr Janice Walshe, consultant medical oncologist at Tallaght Hospital, said using Herceptin with chemotherapy makes it easier to carry out surgery: “HER2 breast cancer remains a serious clinical diagnosis because many patients will experience disease recurrence and progression. Neoadjuvant chemotherapy is administered to patients to help make inoperable tumours removable. The addition of Herceptin to neoadjuvant chemotherapy shows extremely positive benefits for patients,” she said.

Other research presented at the Barcelona Conference showed that the use of Herceptin in women with advanced breast cancer extended average survival by two thirds, from 16.8 months to 27.8 months.