Question: What Is Targeted Therapy for Breast Cancer Treatment?
Targeted therapy includes those treatments aimed at specific processes of cancer cell growth, division and lifecycle (or, in some cases, the blood vessels nourishing a tumor). Targeted therapies for breast cancer include Avastin, Herceptin, Iressa, and Tykerb. These drugs have specific effects on cancer cells.
Answer: Breast cancer has been treated with the standard therapies of surgery, chemotherapy, and radiation. All of these methods treat the cancer, but affect healthy tissue as well. Targeted cancer therapies focus on specific molecules that influence the growth and spread of cancer cells. These drugs can be used alone, but are usually combined with chemotherapy to more effectively block growth signals to cancer cells. Targeted therapies do their work on specific cancer cells, and are less likely than chemotherapy to affect healthy tissues.
Healthy and Unhealthy Cell Life
Your body is made up of cells that are growing, dying, and dividing -- creating new cells as you need them. Older cells die off, and new cells take their place. Cancer is the corruption of this normally healthy process. During the formation of cancer, too many new cells are made, and older cells don't die when they should. These groups of extra cells can collect in one place, becoming a tumor. Malignant tumors are composed of cells that rapidly divide and multiply in a disorderly way.
Targeted Therapy for Breast Cancer
Targeted therapies for breast cancer focus on proteins that signal cancer cells to grow and divide uncontrollably. For example, Iressa can block a cell growth factor, while Avastin binds to a protein and prevents the formation of new blood vessels supplying the tumor. Herceptin and Tykerb attach to HER2 receptors that are on or inside cancer cells and blocks their reception of growth signals, preventing more cell division and slowing the progress of cancer.Here are five targeted therapies for breast cancer:
Targets HER2 Positive Tumors:
- Herceptin (traztubumab) – used with Taxol
- Tykerb (lapatanib) – used with Xeloda
- Avastin (bevacizumab) – used with Taxol
- Iressa (gefitinib) – used with Arimidex (anastrozole)
Targets and Blocks PARP Proteins:
- PARP Inhibitors - for hereditary and Triple Negative Breast Cancer.
Sources:
National Cancer Institute. New Study of Targeted Therapies for Breast Cancer Establishes Model for Global Clinical Trials. Posted: 02/29/08.
National Cancer Institute. Targeted Cancer Therapies: Questions and Answers. Last Updated: 06/13/2006.
