ABOVE: WIKIMEDIA, GENOMEME LAB INC.
HER2-positive breast cancer may be a misnomer, according to a growing body of evidence that one of the most widely recognized oncogenes, HER2, may not be the primary driver of the disease. The research, which comes from several groups including Genentech, makers of the prevailing anti-HER2 treatment, has researchers questioning whether current clinical guidelines for classifying and treating breast cancer may be off the mark. New classification schemes may better identify those patients more likely to benefit from anti-HER2 treatment, or point to therapies that might be more effective.
HER2 is short for human epidermal growth factor receptor 2. Researchers discovered HER2 breast cancer in the 1980s. Too many copies of the HER2 gene or its overexpression appeared to cause an especially aggressive form of the disease. By the late ’90s, a drug called Herceptin that targeted the HER2 receptor, sped into the clinic on ...
