Herceptin helps women with breast cancer

JACKSONVILLE, Fla., Dec. 18 (UPI) -- U.S. medical scientists determined treatment with Herceptin helps women with a specific type of breast cancer.

Herceptin is a laboratory-manufactured substance that shuts down a cancer-promoting protein called HER2-plus, which accounts for approximately 20 percent of all breast cancer cases.

The HER2-plus protein is made by a gene from chromosome number 17 and the study by researchers at the Mayo Clinic in Jacksonville, Fla., showed Herceptin was effective even in women with extra copies of that chromosome.

The research team, led by Dr. Edith Perez, found 865 patients with extra copies of chromosome 17, and 685 women with the normal number -- two copies -- of chromosome 17 benefited equally with Herceptin. Their disease-free survival was about 89 percent at both three years and five years.

The findings were presented last week in Texas during the San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium.