Herceptin

Herceptin is a manufactured antibody that binds to growth factor receptors on the surface of cancer cells and thereby blocks cell proliferation. Letrozole is used to inhibit the synthesis of estrogen in postmenopausal women who have hormone-dependent breast cancers.

…treatment with a drug called herceptin, which targets the mutated gene product. Neuroblastoma cells that contain amplified amounts of the N-MYC gene indicate a worse prognosis for the individual than do cells from identical tumors that have the normal genetic complement of N-MYC.

…the monoclonal antibody trastuzumab (Herceptin), which is directed against the estrogen receptor and used to treat breast cancer. It was known that when estrogen occupied its receptor on the surface of breast cancer cells, it stimulated their growth. Occupying the receptor with an ineffective molecule, in this case trastuzumab,…

…and by 1998 trastuzumab (Herceptin), the first HER2-targeted antibody, was approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for HER2-positive breast cancer.

…development of drugs such as trastuzumab (Herceptin), approved for the treatment of breast cancer, and bevacizumab (Avastin), approved for use against certain types of cancer and for age-related macular degeneration.