• Question: have you done any research on the drug Herceptin?

    Asked by elliemae99 to Clare, Mariana, Pedro, Robert, Susanne on 16 Nov 2012.
    • Photo: Mariana Campos

      Mariana Campos answered on 16 Nov 2012:

      Wow, such a specific question. No, I didn’t. Herceptin is a breast cancer therapy and I work with flies 😉 Why are you so interested in Herceptin?

    • Photo: Clare Taylor

      Clare Taylor answered on 16 Nov 2012:

      I’m afraid I haven’t but if you want to know more about it, there is some information here: http://www.nhs.uk/conditions/Herceptin/Pages/Introduction.aspx

    • Photo: Susanne Muekusch

      Susanne Muekusch answered on 16 Nov 2012:

      hi ellimae,

      no, I haven’t. It is used for breast cancer treatment, I work on brain cancer. Still, if you are interested in how the drug works or another more specific question, we can probably explain it to you anyways. Just leave a comment.

    • Photo: Robert Insall

      Robert Insall answered on 22 Nov 2012:

      Herceptin is a “humanized antibody”. They made the antibody in a mouse, but then changed the DNA sequence so it looks like a human antibody. Otherwise your immune system might think it was a mouse protein, recognise it, and give you another load of problems

      I’ve never worked with herceptin, but I used to work next door to the lab that invented humanized antibodies. The boss of that work is now a millionaire. I think he deserves it.

Comments

  • Photo: elliemae99

    elliemae99 commented on :

    im interested in herceptin because my auntie finished her course in june.she is getting a lot of hip pain so i was wondering if this was a side effect ? i understand that its a fairly new treatment so all the side effects are not known yet.
    i would like to know how the drug works.
    thank you .

  • Photo: Susanne

    Susanne commented on :

    Hi elliemae,

    How the drug works:
    Herceptin is an antibody which blocks a growth signal for the cancer cells. Some breast cancers are dependent on a certain growth signal. That growth signal comes from outside the cell and binds to the cell. Actually, the cancer cells are sending these signals to each other and as a consequence the cells divide and the cancer grows.

    The idea of herceptin is to block this growth signal such that it will not reach the cells. Herceptin binds to the cell at exactly the same spots were the growth signal would go. Because those spots are already occupied, the growth signal cannot bind and the cell does not receive it. It stops dividing and the cancer stops growing.

    I cannot tell you much more about side effects- except that hip pain is not a common side effect, for what I could find out. Mechanistically, I do not see a link between herceptin function and hip pain. Of course, it could be a side effect- I don’t know. But as you said: It takes some time to understand the side effects of a new drug, because people are not all the same and especially for rare side effects you will need a lot of patients to notice them.

    I hope your auntie gets well soon!