By Richard Woodman
LONDON (Reuters Health) – Combining Herceptin (trastuzumab) with Iressa (ZD1839) might be significantly more effective against breast cancer than either drug alone, Italian researchers reported on Thursday.
In laboratory experiments they found that Herceptin and Iressa on their own were each able to inhibit cancer cell growth by 30% to 55%. But, when the two agents were used together the percentage rose to 70%, the investigators report in the January issue of the Annals of Oncology.
"I would stress that this approach is still highly experimental, but our findings could in theory be transferred immediately to patients in the clinic," said lead investigator Dr. Nicola Normanno, from Istituto Nazionale Tumori-Fondazione Pascale in Naples, Italy.
The researchers noted that Herceptin targets the growth factor receptor HER2 while Iressa blocks epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR). Many breast cancers overexpress both HER2 and EGFR, and the researchers hypothesise that these two oncogenes cooperate to ensure proliferation and survival of the breast cancer cells.
"This study is the first to demonstrate that a synergistic growth inhibition occurs when human breast cancer cells that co-express EGFR and HER2 are treated with a combination of Herceptin and Iressa," Dr. Normanno added in a news release .
"It may be possible in the future to control tumour growth by using combinations of different target-based agents, which generally are not very toxic. Eventually, these combinations may then be used with conventional cell-killing drugs," Dr. Normanno elaborated. "Alternatively, conventional chemotherapy may be used for short courses at times when the disease is more aggressive and targeted therapy used at other times."
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