Technological developments also helped develop in the medical world. In the world of medicine, there have been many developments in medical technology and medicines that are increasingly sophisticated and effective in diagnosing and treating diseases. One of them is breast cancer. Until now, many new treatments have been found that have been recognized as the latest breast cancer treatment. This latest treatment must have been through standard breast cancer treatment guidelines. So, what are the treatments?
HER2 positive breast cancer
Based on research results, cancer caused by HER2 oncogene is considered very deadly. It is known that trastuzumab can be used as a breast cancer treatment. However, in 2019, there is another new evolution. This year it was announced that trastuzumab with hyaluronidase was considered more effective as a treatment for breast cancer. Hyaluronidase itself is one of the types of enzymes that help the body to receive and use trastuzumab drugs.
This latest breast cancer treatment is named Herceptin Hylecta. This drug is given by injection using a hypodermic needle. Because it uses injection, this treatment only takes a few minutes. This drug can be used for metastatic and non-metastatic breast cancer.
Triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC)
Triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) is a type of breast cancer caused by a lack of 3 important things, namely estrogen, progesterone, and HER2 receptors. So far, TNBC cannot be treated by the hormone therapy method or targeted therapy (using HER2 drugs). Therefore, cancer with TNBC type still relies on chemotherapy as its type of treatment. However, currently, there have been found various new treatments for the treatment of TNBC.
The first is immunotherapy. In 2019, the immunotherapy method for HER2 negative breast cancer has been approved for mass use. This treatment was a test result of Impassion 130 which turned out to produce benefits for atezolizumab (a drug used to target the PD-L1 protein). However, not all sufferers will benefit from this treatment. Therefore, treatment development continues to be carried out such as breast cancer vaccine development.
The second latest breast cancer treatment for TNBC is PARP inhibitors. At the end of 2018, the first PARP inhibitor passed the review and was approved for use on a mass scale. This PARP inhibitor is called olaparib. Olaparib is used for TNBC breast cancer that occurs due to a BRCA1 or BRCA2 gene mutation. The use of olaparib and chemotherapy with drugs that target DNA will be more effective in destroying cancer cells from the BRCA gene mutation. That is because the BRCA gene mutation will also affect the patient’s DNA.