COLUMBUS, Ohio – Preliminary research suggests that a drug that
targets a particular type of breast cancer might be more
effective if patients are also given a substance made by the
body that stimulates certain immune cells. The laboratory and
animal study suggests that the substance interleukin 21 (IL-21)
might improve the effectiveness of the drug Herceptin. The
findings suggest that this happens because the IL-21 boosts the
cancer-killing activity of immune cells called natural killer
(NK) cells, which attack the tumor. The findings by researchers
at the Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center –
Arthur G. James Cancer Hospital and Richard J. Solove Research
Institute are published in the July 1 issue of The Journal of
Immunology. The researchers hope to begin a clinical trial to
test the strategy in humans soon. Herceptin is used to treat
HER2-positive breast cancer -- about 20 percent of all breast-
cancer cases. HER2 breast cancers have a protein called HER2 on
the surface of the tumor cells. He