TRASTUZUMAB

The reported incidence of congestive heart failure with single-agent

trastuzumab is 7% and rises to 11% when trastuzumab is combined with paclitaxel.

Overall, Trastuzumab is a recombinant humanized monoclonal antibiotic that

selectively binds to HER-2 glycoprotein, a member of the epidermal growth factor

family of cellular receptors (EGFR). EGFR encodes its own tyrosine kinase which,

upon receptorligand binding, normally autophosphorylates the receptor causing

downstream signalling which increases proliferation, metastatic potential and

evasion of apoptosis.

The reported incidence of congestive heart failure with single-agent

trastuzumab is 7% and rises to 11% when trastuzumab is combined with paclitaxel.

So the antibody is an IgG1 kappa antibody that contains human framework

regions and murine complementarily determining regions that binds to HER-2.

HER-2 is overexpressed in about one-third of patients with breast cancer.

Trastuzumab inhibits cell-cycle progression by decreasing cells entering the S

phase of the cell cycle, leading to downregulation of HER-2 receptors on tumor

cells and decreased cell proliferation.Trastuzumab also leads to antibody

dependent cellular cytotoxicity (ADCC) and complement dependent cytotoxicity

(CDC), along with directly inducing apoptosis in cells overexpressing the HER-2

protein.