Feb 23, 2006

New Clues To Iressa And Tarceva Resistance

Thanks to research, now there is more information regarding the mechanism of resistance of cancer cells to drugs like Tarceva (erlotinib) and Iressa (gefitinib).

These drugs belonging to the group of EGFR receptor blockers stop the growth of certain cancers by targeting signaling molecules that are essential to the survival of cancer cells. Researchers have recently found that those who harbor a mutation in the EGFR gene may actually benefit patients in terms of response to treatment. These drugs are however effective only in 10 percent of patients with non-small cell lung cancer, for which subtype of lung cancer this drug is indicated. Also patients who receive this drug may develop acquired resistance during the course of the treatment.

To investigate the issue of drug-resistance, researchers followed six NSCLC patients who'd been treated with either Tarceva or Iressa and later developed secondary resistance. They analyzed tumor samples taken from the patients at various points before and during treatment.

The researchers found that in three of the six patients, tumors continued to grow despite continued therapy. These tumors were found to contain a second mutation in the EGFR gene. Further research revealed this second mutation conferred drug resistance to the EGFR mutant genes that would otherwise be sensitive to Tarceva and Iressa.


The study appears in the Feb. 22 issue of PLoS Medicine.


Scott      

Do You Read All Of Our Cancer Blogs?

Do you read all of the blogs published by medicineworld.org? Many of our bloggers are busy keeping you updated on the various health related topics. We publish the following blogs at this time.

Cancer blog: I manage the cancer blog with lots of help and support form other bloggers. Through this cancer blog my friends and I try to bring stories of hope for patients with cancer. The cancer blog often republishes important blog posts from other cancer related blogs at Medicineworld.org. If you are searching for a blog that covers wide variety of cancer topics, this may be the one for you.

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Janet      

Lung cancer
We engage a never-ending daily struggle to understand and defeat the hidden mysteries of cancer. This is a long and laborious fight, but some moments stand out as grim reminders of the severity of the problem and ruthlessness of the enemy. We recently heard about the sad demise of Peter Jennings, who was the news anchor of ABC News for a long time.