A combination of two drugs is highly effective at keeping some women with breast cancer free of the disease, say researchers.
Almost 99 per cent of women given the Herceptin-Taxol combination remained cancer-free for at least three years after treatment, a study found.
The trial looked at the effect of the two drugs in patients with a specific type of breast cancer that responds to Herceptin.
Almost 99 per cent of women given a combination of the drugs Herceptin and Taxol combination remained cancer-free for at least three years after treatment
All had lower-grade tumours that had not spread to the lymph nodes.
Around one in four women with breast cancer have tumours characterised by the HER2 protein.
Here, there is too much of a protein called human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2) on the surface of their cells.
The extra HER2 receptors stimulate the cancer cells to divide and grow.
Herceptin locks on to the HER2 protein. This blocks the receptor and stops the cells from dividing and growing.
However the drug is normally reserved for those at higher risk.
The new study showed that giving lower-risk women with HER2 breast cancer Herceptin plus the chemotherapy drug Taxol was highly effective with few adverse side effects.
The drug could help the one in four women with breast cancer tumours characterised by the HER2 protein
Of the 406 patients studied, fewer than 4 per cent experienced serious complications in the form of nerve damage and temporary heart failure.
'This is great news for patients and their physicians,' said professor Kathy Albain, from Loyola University Medical Centre in Maywood, Illinois, who presented the findings at the San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium.
'This study identifies a new treatment option for this population of patients that is highly effective and has minimal side effects.'
