Medicine and Physiology: HER-2/NEU Oncogene
Dennis J. Slamon, University of California Los Angeles
In the 1970s, breast cancer patients exhibiting the HER-2 protein were faced with a dismal diagnosis: even with the best possible treatment, recurrence was likely, and the survival rate wasn’t encouraging. But Slamon’s discovery of an antibody that blocks the misdirected protein formed the basis of the drug Herceptin, which has saved countless lives since its approval and widespread adoption. More broadly, the discovery demonstrated that cancer, and breast cancer in particular, is not a single disease with a single cure. Each specific pathology demands a particular targeted response, marking the battle against cancer as a prolonged war that will likely continue far into the future.
Image: A cartoon of a tumor cell overexpressing an aberrant HER-2 protein. (National Cancer Institute, NIH)
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