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Two stories that broke online last week may have long-reaching benefits for women with breast cancer. First, Science Daily reported on March 27 that researchers at New York-Presbyterian Hospital/Weill Cornell Medical Center have discovered a new marker that may identify, at the time of di...
Hi, P.J. I sent the link to this sharepost to my daughter, and she wrote this back--can you reply?
Brooke says, "Interesting article. I was particularly struck by this quote:
"Most markers (a kind of cellular-level footprint) indicate that cancer is spreading or growing; TMEM predicts whether it will spread in the future, as it eventually does with about 40% of women diagnosed with breast cancer. "
"I've not heard that statistic and it sounds very different than what the doctors have told both Erin and I. Is metastatic cancer 40% likely in those who don't follow a protocol like chemo? Would you mind asking your friend PJ? Also, the nurse said something today, in an off-handed way about HER2/Neu patients being more likely to develop ovarian cancern. No one has said that to me before . Does PJ know?"
What do you know about these two questions, P.J.? And thanks!
Barbara, apparently HER2-neu overexpression is found in both breast cancer and ovarian cancer. Does this mean you're more likely to develop ovarian cancer than other women, if you have HER2-neu overexpression? That may be assuming it as a cause, not an effect... Or it may worsen ovarian cancer, but not be its genesis. I'm just guessing here. I found nothing in the online literature supporting what the nurse said. But clearly, she's a trained medical professional, and I'm not, so Brooke had probably better ask for more information.
As for the 40% statistic, she might find come clarification here:
http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2009-01/pu-tfb010509.php
Hope this helps - PJH