Nihon rinsho. Japanese journal of clinical medicine
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The HER2/neu protein is thought to be a unique and useful target for antibody therapy of cancers overexpressing the HER2/neu gene. The recombinant humanized anti-HER2 monoclonal antibody, trastuzumab(Herceptin) has recently been available for clinical use in Japan. In this paper, the details of this novel biologic agent are reviewed in conjunction with the results of the clinical trials for breast cancer.
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The human epidermal growth factor receptor-2(HER2) is overexpressed/amplified in a number of cancers. HER2 is implicated in disease initiation and progression and associated with poor prognosis. Trastuzumab(Herceptin) is a recombinant DNA-derived humanized anti-HER2 monoclonal antibody that selectively binds with high affinity to extra-cellular domain. ⋯ Clinical trials have demonstrated that it is effective as both single and combination with chemotherapeutic agent in recurrent and metastatic breast cancer patients who's tumor tissue are overexpressed HER2. The incidence of severe adverse events were low but the occurrence of cardiac toxicity was unexpectedly high if trastuzumab was combined with anthracycline containing chemotherapy. The further studies are underway to assess the role of trastuzumab in combination chemotherapy, adjuvant chemotherapy and other type of tumors.