Can you collect clinical specimens from Herceptin non-responders? That’s a question we get often. Let me give you a little background then address that question directly…
Breast cancer – including ductal carcinoma in situ, invasive/infiltrating ductal, and invasive/infiltrating lobular – is a common diagnosis at Conversant’s clinical cancer Sites (a “Site” to us is any place where we consent patients and collect samples ie. a hospital, clinic, or physician practice). For example, in 2008 our Sites saw over 275 newly diagnosed breast cancer patients, 25 (or 9%) of which were pre-chemotherapy Stage IV Breast Cancer patients.
9% Stage IV disease is a significant improvement versus previous years. That points to a successful, new, aggressive push for screening plus some major advances in diagnostic technology.
Improved diagnosis is one part; the other part is improved treatment. That’s why I’m posting this blog…
Treatment Options
Everyone who has been around the cancer research world for any period of time has heard about HER2/Neu (also known as ErbB-2, ERBB2) which stands for “Human Epidermal Growth Factor Receptor 2″; a protein giving higher aggressiveness in breast cancers.
We also know Trastuzumab (“Herceptin”) – developed by Genentech and FDA approved in 1998 – is a monoclonal antibody that interferes with the HER2/neu receptor and reverses the effects of an overactive HER2 receptor. In order to be used, physicians will score breast cancer tissue with IHC and FISH… scores of 0 and 1+ are negative (don’t treat), scores of 3+ are positive (treat).
Studies conducted by academia and industry both show that approximately 25% of breast cancer patients have tumors that are HER2+. Herceptin is a highly effective treatment for many of these patients.
What About Herceptin “Non-Responders”
Because the fight for better therapies in breast cancer is always ongoing, many researchers are focused on improving upon the currently available treatment options. That’s where we can help.
Conversant collects clinical specimens from patients at initial diagnosis and follows them throughout their treatment course. Using the Herceptin non-responders example, we can (and do) collect clinical specimens (like PBMC, Serum, Whole Blood, and even Circulating Tumor Cells) from these patients… enabling our research clients to study refractory or n0n-responder patient population.
There’s a whole lot more to it and – if you are interested – I would love to talk with you. Give us a call anytime at (866) 838-2798.
More next week…
