Tag Archive for: HER2 status

Endometrial Cancer Biomarkers | Impact on Prognosis and Treatment

What are endometrial cancer biomarkers? Dr. Hinchcliff discusses how prognostic biomarkers, namely mismatch repair status and HER2, influence treatment, leading to more tailored strategies for patients.  

Dr. Emily Hinchcliff is a Gynecologic Oncologist at Northwestern Medicine. Learn more about Dr. Hinchcliff.

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Transcript: 

Katherine Banwell: 

Are there prognostic biomarkers that help determine how the cancer may behave? 

Dr. Emily Hinchcliff:  

Yeah. So, endometrial cancer, we now know that the molecular mechanism – so, what I’ve been talking about, these things that are happening inside the cancer cell – we now know that that can drive prognosis, and so, it used to be that we kind of had two big buckets of cancer. 

We used to say there’s Type 1 endometrial cancer and Type 2 endometrial cancer, and now, we’ve actually broken it down into molecular categories – so, into categories much more based on certainly what the cell looks like under the microscope, but also what’s going on inside the cell, not only to impact treatment, but also to give a patient a better look at what their prognosis is expected to potentially be, and we actually have changed our staging system pretty recently to incorporate some of those molecular characteristics that we now know to check for.  

Katherine Banwell:  

Talking about the biomarkers, how do biomarkers impact endometrial cancer treatment options? 

Dr. Emily Hinchcliff:  

Yeah, so I think specifically the two that I mentioned, the mismatch repair status and the HER2 status, have really robust data that tells us that we can better tailor our treatment strategy based on a patient’s status. So, for mismatch repair, for example, if someone is mismatch repair deficient, that tumor is going to respond very well, incredibly well, to immunotherapy. So, we now actually use immunotherapy in combination with chemotherapy to treat those cancers, especially for the cancers that have spread outside the uterus or the cancers that have gone through initial treatment and then come back. 

So, I think that is a really great option. Similarly, that HER2 receptor, there is a medicine that targets that receptor, which is that cell surface molecule, that thing that’s sitting on the cancer surface, and can treat that cancer better if that marker is expressed. 

What Treatments Are Available for HER2-Positive Metastatic Breast Cancer?

What Treatments Are Available for HER2-Positive Metastatic Breast Cancer? from Patient Empowerment Network on Vimeo.

What are the differences between HR-positive and HER2-negative metastatic breast cancer? Expert Dr. Demetria Smith-Graziani gives a clear breakdown around the differences and encourages patients to  ask what the available standard treatments are for HER2-positive metastatic breast cancer.

Demetria Smith-Graziani, MD, MPH is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Hematology and Medical Oncology at Emory University School of Medicine. Learn more about Dr. Smith-Graziani.

[ACT]IVATION TIP

“…ask about the HER2 status of your breast cancer and ask about what the available standard treatments are for HER2-positive metastatic breast cancer, as well as potential clinical trial options.“

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Transcript:

Lisa Hatfield:

Dr. Smith, can you explain the difference between HR-positive and HER2-negative metastatic breast cancer? And what promising treatments are available for those types of cancer?

Dr. Demetria Smith-Graziani:

So when we look at the cancer cells under the microscope, we test for different proteins, and one of those proteins is called HER2. Breast cancers that overexpress the HER2 protein are considered to be HER2-positive, and those do not have this overexpression are considered to be HER2-negative.  

For metastatic or stage IV breast cancer, cancers that are HER2-positive, have the option of being treated with HER2-targeted therapy, and that means that we have certain drugs that will seek out the cancer cells that are expressing these HER2 proteins bind to those cells and deliver treatments to those cancer cells that destroy those cancer cells in a more targeted fashion than traditional chemotherapy that tends to destroy all rapidly dividing cells equally.

So my activation tip for patients is ask about the HER2 status of your breast cancer and ask about what the available standard treatments are for HER2-positive metastatic breast cancer, as well as potential clinical trial options. 


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An Overview of Breast Cancer Subtypes: Tips for Being Proactive

An Overview of Breast Cancer Subtypes: Tips for Being Proactive from Patient Empowerment Network on Vimeo.

Breast cancer has various subtypes, but what do patients need to know about them? Expert Dr. Demetria Smith-Graziani shares an overview of breast cancer subtypes, what is examined in each type, treatments for some subtypes, and advice for patients to be proactive. 

Demetria Smith-Graziani, MD, MPH is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Hematology and Medical Oncology at Emory University School of Medicine. Learn more about Dr. Smith-Graziani.

[ACT]IVATION TIP

“.. ask, what subtype of breast cancer do I have, and what kinds of treatment would I expect with the subtype of breast cancer?”

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Transcript:

Lisa Hatfield:

What are the various subtypes of breast cancer?

Dr. Demetria Smith-Graziani:

So we tend to think of breast cancer as being either hormone receptor-positive and HER2-negative, or hormone receptor-positive and HER2-positive or hormone receptor-negative and HER2-positive, or what we call triple-negative. Now, that’s really confusing. So let me take a step back. When we are looking at the cancer cells under the microscope, we look at specific proteins in these cells, and based on what proteins we see, we designate it as positive or negative for the estrogen receptor, the progesterone receptor, or a protein called HER2. When a cancer expresses the estrogen or progesterone receptor, that means that it feeds off of those hormones that your body makes, and that’s why we refer to it as hormone receptor-positive.

When your breast cancer over expresses a particular protein called HER2 that allows us to target your cancer with certain treatments that target HER2-positive cells. When a breast cancer is triple-negative, that means that it is negative for all three of those proteins, it does not have the estrogen receptor, the progesterone receptor, or the HER2 protein. 

And it’s important that we know what subtype of breast cancer you have, because it affects the type of treatment that you can get. So my activation tip is that patients should ask, “What subtype of breast cancer do I have, and what kinds of treatment would I expect with the subtype of breast cancer?”


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