Surgery>>>>>Molecular and Genomic Surgery
Question 15#

Which of the following drugs is a monoclonal antibody to an oncogene?

A. Trastuzumab
B. Methotrexate
C. Adriamycin
D. Gleevec

Correct Answer is A

Comment:

Patients whose tumors overexpress HER-2/neu are candidates for anti-HER-2/neu therapy. Trastuzumab (Herceptin) is a recombinant humanized monoclonal antibody directed against HER-2/neu. Randomized clinical trials have demonstrated that single-agent trastuzumab therapy is an active and well-tolerated option for first-line treatment of women with HER-2/neu-overexpressing metastatic breast cancer. More recently, adjuvant trials demonstrated that trastuzumab also was highly effective in the treatment of women with earlystage breast cancer when used in combination with chemotherapy. Patients who received trastuzumab in combination with chemotherapy had between a 40 and 50% reduction in the risk of breast cancer recurrence and approximately a third reduction in breast cancer mortality.