Doctors say they have pinpointed a protein that could determine how a breast cancer patient will respond to treatment.
A new study out of the University of Michigan Comprehensive Cancer Center finds if a woman's tumors are fueled by the protein HER-2, she may benefit from additional chemotherapy drugs. Doctors looked at tissue samples from more than 1,500 women. Each received so-called AC chemotherapy. (that means they were given the chemotherapy drugs adriamycin and cytoxan). In addition to the AC chemotherapy, some of them were given the chemotherapy drug taxol too.
Researchers found the women with the HER-2 protein benefited from the added drug.
HER-2 breast cancers only account for about fifteen to twenty percent of all cases. The rest are considered estrogen-receptor-positive breast cancers, because they're fueled by the hormone estrogen. For those women, the study found taxol won't help.
Based on the findings, researchers say doctors can now target treatment, saving some women from needless side effects.
The study appears in the "New England Journal of Medicine."
