Breast Cancer Treatment – Targeted Drug Therapy
Learn More About Targeted Drug Therapies for Breast Cancer: Chat with Us | Email Us
Targeted Drug Therapies for Breast Cancer
In addition to chemotherapy drugs, the breast cancer experts at Cancer Treatment Centers of America (CTCA) use a variety of targeted drugs to fight breast cancer. Targeted drug therapies for breast cancer are drugs that block the growth and spread of the disease by interfering with specific molecules involved in tumor growth.
Your CTCA care team may use hormone therapies like aromatase inhibitors and selective estrogen receptor modulators (SERMs), such as Tamoxifen. These therapies alter the body's own natural hormone levels to prevent breast cancer cells from getting the hormones they need (at the levels they need) to grow.
In addition, biological response modifiers, such as Herceptin, are drugs that bind with specific proteins on breast cancer cells to prevent their growth. Your CTCA care team may recommend this form of therapy to target breast tumors that produce too much of, or overexpress, a protein called HER2. If laboratory testing reveals the HER2 gene in the cancer cells, the medications can help shut down the HER2 gene, thus cutting the cancer cells off from their energy supply.
Your CTCA care team will likely combine targeted drug therapy with other breast cancer treatments, such as chemotherapy, to help control cancer that has spread or to prevent breast cancer recurrence.
Supportive Therapies
Furthermore, your care team also provides various complementary medicine therapies to support you throughout your breast cancer treatment. Therapies like nutrition therapy, naturopathic medicine, mind-body medicine, and oncology rehabilitation work to keep you strong, reduce side effects, and improve your quality of your life.
Next Topic: Hormone Therapy for Breast Cancer
