Cutting-Edge Treatments for HER2-Negative Breast Cancer
Reviewed by Poonam Sachdev on February 18, 2022
Video Transcript
SPEAKER:
[MUSIC PLAYING]
[TYPING]
If you have breast
cancer, your doctor will need
to look at a number
of different things
before coming up
with a treatment plan.
This will include how far
the cancer has spread
and what type of cancer
you have.
Treatment usually begins
with surgery, either
a lumpectomy or a mastectomy.
The doctor will test the receptors on your cancer. HER2 negative means your breast cancer tissue has little HER2 receptors or the gene that makes the HER2 receptor protein. This will rule out certain kinds of protein-targeting therapy. They will also test whether your cancer cells have hormone receptors in them. If they do, hormone-blocking therapies may be prescribed first.
JANE LOWE MEISEL: Modern-day hormone-blocking treatments can keep an advanced cancer at bay and literally add years to a patient's life. That's because they target the cancer everywhere that it is in the body, and slow its growth down, and, oftentimes, shrink it. There are a number of different hormone-blocking treatments available, specifically tailored to the kind of cancer a patient has.
SPEAKER: Chemotherapy may be prescribed to shrink tumors throughout the body. Targeted therapy is a type of treatment that targets very specific proteins in the cancer. In some cases, it can be given alongside chemotherapy or hormone therapy to make those drugs more effective. The type of cancer you have will determine if targeted therapy is right for you.
JANE LOWE MEISEL: Even if you're HER2 negative, there's sometimes other proteins in the cancer that we can focus on with targeted therapy.
SPEAKER: Immunotherapy works with your body's immune system to help your body identify and attack the cancer cells in the body. If your cancer has a protein called PD-L1, immunotherapy can target that protein and make it easier for your immune system to attack it. If more than one type of treatment is used at a time, that is called combination therapy.
JANE LOWE MEISEL: Treatments are evolving and improving so fast. We have so many different options today than we did five years ago. Treatments are often easier to take now, too, than they were in years past, and have fewer side effects, which really allows our patients with advanced cancer to live full lives and meet a lot of the milestones that, before, they never thought they would meet.
The doctor will test the receptors on your cancer. HER2 negative means your breast cancer tissue has little HER2 receptors or the gene that makes the HER2 receptor protein. This will rule out certain kinds of protein-targeting therapy. They will also test whether your cancer cells have hormone receptors in them. If they do, hormone-blocking therapies may be prescribed first.
JANE LOWE MEISEL: Modern-day hormone-blocking treatments can keep an advanced cancer at bay and literally add years to a patient's life. That's because they target the cancer everywhere that it is in the body, and slow its growth down, and, oftentimes, shrink it. There are a number of different hormone-blocking treatments available, specifically tailored to the kind of cancer a patient has.
SPEAKER: Chemotherapy may be prescribed to shrink tumors throughout the body. Targeted therapy is a type of treatment that targets very specific proteins in the cancer. In some cases, it can be given alongside chemotherapy or hormone therapy to make those drugs more effective. The type of cancer you have will determine if targeted therapy is right for you.
JANE LOWE MEISEL: Even if you're HER2 negative, there's sometimes other proteins in the cancer that we can focus on with targeted therapy.
SPEAKER: Immunotherapy works with your body's immune system to help your body identify and attack the cancer cells in the body. If your cancer has a protein called PD-L1, immunotherapy can target that protein and make it easier for your immune system to attack it. If more than one type of treatment is used at a time, that is called combination therapy.
JANE LOWE MEISEL: Treatments are evolving and improving so fast. We have so many different options today than we did five years ago. Treatments are often easier to take now, too, than they were in years past, and have fewer side effects, which really allows our patients with advanced cancer to live full lives and meet a lot of the milestones that, before, they never thought they would meet.