Can we cure cancer in eleven days?
Last month,
in the European Breast Cancer Conference (Amsterdam), a group of scientists
reported some groundbreaking news on the fight against cancer. They used a
combination of two known drugs and found that it shrinks – and, in some cases,
eliminate – the breast cancer related with the HER2 gene. The relation with
this gene only makes the breakthrough even more important, since it is known
for the aggressive and resistant behavior of its tumors.
One of the
lead researchers, Judith Bliss, shared her surprise with a BBC reporter: "We were particularly surprised by
these findings as this was a short-term trial (…) it became apparent some had a
complete response. It's absolutely intriguing, it is so fast."
The
investigation counted with 257 women diagnosed with HER2-positive breast cancer
sized between 1 and 3 cm. 66 of which received a combination of lapatinib and
trastuzumab and in less than two weeks, 11% of them were completely tumor-free
and only 17% had remaining cancer, but with less than 5mm in size.
The
scientists are really excited about the idea of these women not needing to
undergo chemotherapy, which is so tough on patients.
As we know,
the trastuzumab is already a standard treatment for HER2-positive cancers, but
it is used after surgery. It appears that while trastuzumab targets the surface
of cancer cells, lapatinib attacks them from within.
So, I’d like
to know if you guys are as excited about this news as I am. Does it surprise
you that a drug already used in the treatment of this type of cancer could now
be discovered to produce such amazing results? Researchers are being very
cautious about this, because HER2-positive breast cancer has a high risk of
coming back, do you think that is prudent to start using it as soon as possible
or should we wait to see if the outcome is not as expected?
Thanks Margarida for giving us this article. This is so good news for the scientific community and I was totally unaware of that.
ReplyDeleteIt is not a surprise that two drugs, which have the same target, increase their effectiveness when combined. However, these results are quite surprising keeping in mind that invasive breast cancer is the most frequent and most lethal cancer in women worldwide.
Despite this revolutionary event it is known that HER2 positive breast cancer is diagnosed in 10-15% of all breast cancers, so this treatment may only be effective in a small percentage of the population. And I say that "may only be effective" because only 11% of the women who were treated with trastuzumab and lapatinib in the study had no evidence of tumour in the breast and 17% had remaining little tumour. In addition, there is no evidence of relapse in those women and, if it occurs, we don't know whether the cancer could be more aggressive.
So, answering your question, I would rather wait until there is more evidence, researchers discover the pathways that lead to these results and secondary effects are noticeable.
Adrià
Thank you for your answer, Adrià.
DeleteI agree that this study concerns only a fragment of patients affected by breast cancer.
Hi Margarida, thanks for these great news, I wasn't aware of this breaking news in the treatment of breast cancer and I think it is very important for medical doctors or even students to be updated.
ReplyDeleteIt sounds great and not suprising that two known drugs with the same target cells present synergic effect. Although this seems to be so easy to understand, the suprise leads in the fact that with this treatment we could avoid chemotherapy. That is, from my point of view, such a great new.
Despite of my hapiness I think that we need to be cautious with new treatments. One of cancer's worst fact is that it can become resistant to the drugs that we have used. If it comes back, it will be much stronger and it becomes more difficult to treat those types of cancer. We need to be sure that this is not going to happen before starting the extended use of a new drug.
So, I'm really happy with this news but I think that there's a long way before we can start using it in the hospitals.
I appreciate your point of view, Carlota. Thank you.
DeleteIt is, indeed, wonderful the fact that it may allow patients to avoid chemotherapy.
It is fascinating how some of the greatest discoveries in medicine have been by chance. Searching for somethig completely defferent or, like this case, only seeing how a drug works, we can make important discoveries.
ReplyDeleteThanks to research, the medicine has improved a lot of. We can not forget that research is very important for society. Many times we ignore researchers and it may seem that research could be dispensable. However, research in medicine is very important because thanks to it, many of the diseases that long ago were mortal, now it can be resolved by a simple vaccine or drug.
It is true that this new method has not yet been shown to be fully beneficial long-term for the patients and we don’t know the contraindications that it could have. It has only had full effect in 11% of women, but we have to recognize that it has been in a very short period of time and even in a low percentage, these women have a great benefit.
There are still many tests and they have to finish to investigate, but I think it is a great news.
Thanks, Isa.
DeleteThe short period of response was what amazed me the most in this study.
I'm realizing that this blog, in addition to improve my English, I also use it to learn more about medicine or to questioning me about new topics. In addition, especially as a woman that I am, I think that this is article is a good new to hear.
ReplyDeleteAs my friends have said, it's not surprising that two drugs with the same effect, together they increase it. However, that news is relevant because we are talking about a very invasive and deadly cancer in women and also if it allows avoid the chemotherapy.
The problem? The number of people that this breast cancer affects because the treatment would be effective in not many people, and that there's no evidence of what might happens in the future or in case of the cancer's recurrence.
At the moment it's a great start for a better future and we must'nt to give up the search! So we should hope to give more news until researchers have all the information that can bring this new drug.
Thank you, Gemma.
DeleteI strongly agree that more research is vital for this study.
Any research that involves the most prevalent cancer among women, it is an important achievement for the struggle against cancer.
ReplyDeleteLapatinib is a drug which has been fully tested and has already shown response to HER2+ tumors. This drug was already approved by the american Food and Drugs Administration in 2007, so it is not that innovative.
I think that this drug has been used as a second line therapy after trastuzumab, but now, in the Conference of Amsterdam, it has been used concomitantly with trastuzumab, showing hopeful results.
My question is, what it is the price of Lapatinib? Does the tumor shrinking benefit surpasses the total cost of the treatment? Where it is the paper of the short-term trial to go through it more carefully?
Whatever the answers are to these questions, it is undeniable that progress is unstoppable and this helps the survivance ratio in cancers to increase. It will be our duty to erradicate cancer and other pathologies.
I appreciate your input, Jordi.
DeleteThe price of treatments is, without a doubt, an important factor. But I believe that the costs are not confined exclusively to the price of the "pills". Years of treatment, with all that it includes (stop working, phychological issues, etc) must be way more expensive than an 11 day treatment.
First, I would to say thank you for share with us this article which give hope to all these women who has breast cancer.
ReplyDeleteAs we all know, Her2 is an oncogene whose overexpression has been shown to play an important function in certain types of breast cancer,to be more specific in the most aggressive types of breast cancer. And what is even worse, this biomarker is overexpressed in approximately 30% of all breast cancers and it is associated with bad prognosis and recurrence.
Because of that, news like this open the door to more clinical trials in order to confirm the discovery.
But, just like some of my classmates have said, I think it's too early to use this drug combination as a first line therapy, and we need more evidence about its security and side effects.
In spite of that, find a therapy which could help avoid unnecessary chemotherapy to patients, should be a priority. But what is now indispensable is to confirm if these good news translate into better long-term survival.
Thank you, Cristina.
DeleteIt is true that Her2+ related cancers are not found just in breast. I agree that this gives us hope for further clinical trials.
First at all I would like to thank Margarida for share with us this amazing information. Breast cancer is one of most prevalent cancer and each year there are many women who die due to this horrible disease.
ReplyDeleteBreast cancer is divided following biological criteria. There are two types of breast cancer which have a positive prognosis. They are treated with hormonal therapy and the most of them has good results. However, the treatment for patients with HER2 positive breast cancer is not easy, they are operated on and then they are treated with chemotherapy.
This article is very encouraging and optimist for all the women and men who suffer from this illness. In most cases, cancer patients not only have a world of secondary effects, but also they have to ask for psychological help because it is a very long disease. This new treatment which uses lapatinib and trastuzumab would be able to turn many cases of breast cancer into a mild sickness.
However, I strongly believe that the scientific community should be prudent. This experiment only studies a population of 257 women and during a short period of time. It is still soon to know if this Herceptin, the drug who involves lapatinib and trastuzumab, is a new way to treat positive Her2 breast cancer.
Thanks, Adela.
DeleteI agree that this type of breast cancer is the worse, and therefore, this treatment could become really relevant.
First of all, I would like to thank you all for your comments. I'm glad you enjoyed this topic and that I was able to provide you with some good news in our field.
ReplyDeleteYour opinions were all coherent: we should wait and investigate more into this new drug before jumping to conclusions. I agree with you. The title of this report was a little sensationalist. As it was shown, the results were surprising, but only in 11% of the women studied.
In conclusion, however, it was a breakthrough that can lead researchers to more convincing outcomes in the future, for now we should be cautious and insist in the treatments that we’ve been using so far.