Insidermedicine In Depth - January 25, 2012

Adding the biologic targeted therapy bevacizumab, commonly known as Avastin, to chemotherapy improves response rates for women with certain types of breast cancer, according to research published in the New England Journal of Medicine.

Here is some information about breast cancer:

• Some breast cancer tumors are stimulated to grow by female hormones such as estrogen and progesterone. These tumors are called hormone-receptor-positive. Breast cancer tumors that do not respond to hormones are known as hormone-receptor-negative

• Some women carry a genetic mutation, known as HER-2, that increases their risk of developing breast cancer.

• Breast cancers are categorized based on their sensitivity to hormones and the presence of genetic mutations such as HER-2 because these factors influence which medications they respond to.

Researchers representing the German Breast Group randomly assigned nearly 2,000 women with untreated breast cancer and large tumors to treatment with chemotherapy alone or chemotherapy plus Avastin. None of the women were carriers of the HER-2 gene, but the group was mixed with respect to their tumors' sensitivity to hormones.

Overall, adding bevacizumab to chemotherapy increased the likelihood that the women would experience a complete response to their treatment by nearly 30%. Dividing the group between those with and without hormone sensitive tumors revealed, however, that only those whose tumors that were not sensitive to hormone benefitted from bevacizumab. Among the women with hormone sensitive tumors, adding bevacizumab only increased the likelihood that they would experience severe side effects.

Today's research helps clarify which breast cancer patients might benefit from adding Avastin to their treatment regimen.

Category:

Science & Technology

Tags:

• avastin
• bevacizumab
• breast cancer
• breast cancer treatment
• chemotherapy

[haaz47]

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