Cancer Treatment Today

EGFR inhibition has been of great interest as a potential treatment for researchers working in breast cancer. Unfortunatley, drugs that inhibit EGFR gelfitinib and Iressa phase II studies in heavily pre-treated breast cancer patients did not show much activity.   This observation also appears to extend to another EGFR drug, Tarceva.  Two phase II studies , albeit in heavily pretreated patients, which might decrease a response rate, showed minimal

Is there a way to make cancers that stop responding to hormones increase their sensitivity to these drugs? Preclinical evidence suggests Herceptin (trustusumab) can restore and amplify responsiveness to hormonal therapy. The combination of Tykerb, which like Herceptin works on the HER receptor, and Femara is FDA approved and is thought to work through this mechanism. A randomized phase III TAnDEM study investigated Trastuzumab plus Arimidex(anastrozole)