Hi, i was just wondering if anyones herceptin status has changed after surgery? My oncologist said that when the tumour is removed it will be retested to check status.
thanks
anna
Hi, does no reply mean that no one has had herceptin status change when rechecked after surgery??
Hi Anna35,as far as i know the tumour is only tested for HER2 after surgery,never before.it can take a few weeks sometimes months for the test to comeback.
hope this helps best wishes Mel x
Hi, thanks for that. Maybe thats what he meant, i just thought they had already tested that. It would be great if they are able to add something to fight this thing.
take care
anna
Hi my her2 status was checked on my biopsy then I had neo adjuvant chemo with herceptin 6 months later I had surgery and I carried on receiving herceptin as my pathology report confirmed her2 status.my result was back very quickly.May be different in other areas.
I hadn’t thought about neo adjuvant chemo,of couse they must test it before,think i still have chemo brain lol
best wishes mel x
Hi, there always seems so much to remember at these appointments, and i am usually quite nervous as well because chemo follows. I think he did say it was negative to herceptin but they would recheck it after surgery. I have my fingers crossed that it changes to herceptin positive.
take care
anna
Hi Anna,
I had neo-adjuvant chemo and tested HER2+++ at my biopsy so I had herceptin with my last 2 chemo doses. I was tested again after surgery and the HER2 status confirmed. Mine didn’t change but I have heard of some ladies who’s did. I think it is unusual for it to change unless there is a new primary.
Jan
Hi Jan, i hope mine changes, fingers crossed.
Hi Anna, having her2 ++ status is not good,I think you may be confused over what herceptin is used for and why.Good luck I hope all goes well for you.
Hi, I thought it meant that it was something else they could give you to reduce the chances of it coming back?? whereas if you are triple negative you just have chemo and rads?? now i am confused.
sorry
Anna
have a look at herceptin under targeted therapies in the info pages on this site.Her2++ cancers tend to grow faster and are more aggresive, before herceptin they had a higher risk of recurrence/ spread.Herceptin gives me protection by helping to stop my type of bc using a type of protein to grow.
tamoxifen protects against the production of oestrogen if your cancer is oestrogen positive and uses this to help it grow.
Being triple neg means neither of these will help. So much to take in I know.hope I have helped and not confused you.
Hi Anna,
Being HER2+++ is really not very desirable. Herceptin has only been available for primary breast cancer in the UK for about 2 years. Prior to that people with HER2+++ cancers, which tend to be very aggressive, were given very little hope of long term survival. Herceptin has given us hope and many more are now surviving beyond 5 years. Tumours that are not HER2+ tend to be slower growing and respond better to chemotherapy.
For those that are ER-, PR- and HER2- (ie triple negative) it means there are currently no effective targeted therapies such as hormone therapy and herceptin that can be given to prevent recurrence.
It is very confusing and I agree with Kernowdaisy that the best idea is to read the factsheet on targeted therapies. Write down questions that occur to you and ask your oncologist or breast care nurse to explain anything you’re not sure about at your next visit. If you don’t want to wait that long you can ring the MacMillan helpline. They are very easy to talk to.
Good luck with your treatment.
Janxx
Hi Anna,
As some have said here, it is quite complicated even understanding the implications of the pathology report. The way we are tending to think about it is that all of the factors can involve bad and good sides.
My wife’s BC is grade 3 (v. aggressive), ER, PR and HER2 positive. The way we look at that is that, given that we know it is aggressive, it is then better that it is ER, PR and HER2 positive. That is because all of these factors give us good reasons why it is aggressive and are able to be dealt with by hormone therapy and Herceptin. If it had been grade 3 and triple-negative, then we would have been more concerned as that would mean science hadn’t yet found reasons for this level of aggressiveness and so couldn’t provide treatments for that aspect of it.
Having said that, although grade 3 of itself is bad, the more aggressive a cancer is, the more effectively it should respond to chemotherapy. This is because the chemo attacks rapidly dividing cells, so the more rapidly dividing they are, the more rapidly the chemo can do damage to them.
(In fact, even the grade is more complicated that this because that is made up of three different things.)
I know this reasoning is really a way to see the positive side of things, but it does have a sound basis in the stuff we have read.
Just a clarification on Tamoxifen. My understanding is that it affects the cancer cells’ ability to respond to oestrogen rather than stopping oestrogen production itself. Aromatase inhibitors are used to shut down oestrogen production in post menopausal cases.
Hi, thankyou so much for your replies, thats kinda making sense. I was told that the cancer is an aggressive, grade 3 cancer, triple negative.