question about cancer

Question

A 45 year-old woman complaining of breast pain was diagnosed with having HER2-positive breast cancer. The patient underwent lumpectomy followed by a period of chemotherapy including adjuvant treatment. Over the course of their treatment, the patient developed a urinary tract infection that required antimicrobial therapy, which initially consisted of a trimethoprim/sulfametoxazole combination drug. However, the patient during the course of her therapy suffered multiple recurrent infections and was, consequently, enrolled in a clinical trial to test the efficacy of a new mannoside anti-infective agent.

Question: With reference to signalling pathways, discuss the pathogenesis of HER2-positive breast cancer. In your answer, include discussion on the differential diagnosis of this condition.

Answer 1

Hi Elena G.,

You may find the following paper usefl re/ differential pathological diagnosis:

htt ps : / / www.ncbi .nlm.nih.gov /pmc/ articles/ PMC3242418/ (copy and remove spaces from the link: this format is needed to avoid Wyzant fiters not permitting quotation of links).

Some interesting irreversible inhibitors of HER2 receptors, recent paper: htt ps : / / www.researchgate.net/ publication /332525409 _Discovery_of_Novel_Irreversible_HER2_Inhibitors_for_Breast_Cancer_Treatment

Sorry can't help you with mannoside anti-infective agents and whether that might interfere with HER2-specific, or with general chemotherapeutic agents. But things like methotrexate probably interfere with immune system recognition of pathogens, hence the recurrent infections when using a bacteristatic regimen.

-- Cheers, --Mr. d.