mets to lung

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  • Adnerb
    Adnerb Member Posts: 727
    edited September 2014

    I'm copying and pasting what I read today in the paper about BC that spreads to the lungs.  This should be interesting to us, lung metsters.

    BREAST CANCER INHIBITOR FOUND

    UCSD-led scientists say blocking enzyme decreases spread


    Breast cancer spreads less effectively to the lungs when an enzyme
    regulating cell growth is blocked, according to a study performed in
    female mice given human breast cancer cells.


    The results support testing drugs that inhibit this pathway, said UC San
    Diego-led scientists who published the study Sept. 2 in the Proceedings
    of the National Academy of Sciences.


    Researchers found that the enzyme, called Ubc13, stimulates production
    of a protein called p38, already known to promote metastasis. Drugs are
    already in clinical trials to block p38 to treat rheumatoid arthritis.
    Elevated Ubc13 activity is already known to be associated with poor
    survival odds, but before it wasn’t clear if the enzyme was a cause or a
    symptom of an aggressive cancer.


    It should be possible to start a clinical trial in a year to use a p38
    inhibitor against metastatic breast cancer, said Xuefeng Wu, a UCSD
    researcher and first author of the study. Meanwhile, Wu said researchers
    will study whether the process is involved in metastasis to other
    areas, such as bone.


    Preclinical work is being paid for by a $75,000 grant from Pedal The
    Cause San Diego, a charitable organization that funds cancer research.
    Pedal The Cause will hold a fundraising bicycle ride Sept. 20-21.


    The researchers used human breast cancer cells of a kind that
    preferentially spreads to the lungs. They genetically modified the
    cancer cells to suppress production of Ubc13 and then injected them into
    mouse breasts. As a control, unmodified breast cancer cells were also
    injected.


    The genetically modified cells reduced metastasis by more than 90
    percent, compared with control cells. But there was no reduction in size
    of the primary tumor.


    “Our results confirm that in addition to being associated with poor
    overall survival in human (breast cancer), Ubc13 is directly involved in
    the metastatic process and is required both for lung colonization and
    survival and proliferation of established metastatic lesions,” the study
    stated.


    To test the effect of a drug on breast cancers that already existed,
    researchers gave mice a p38 inhibitor two weeks after they were
    implanted with breast cancer cells. The drugs caused the tumors to
    shrink.


    As a further test, researchers treated cells in which Ubc13 had been
    blocked to restore the activity of p38. The cancer cells recovered their
    metastatic potential.


    Funding was also provided by the National Institutes of Health, in addition to Pedal The Cause San Diego.

  • susaninsf
    susaninsf Member Posts: 1,099
    edited September 2014

    Brenda,

    My MO said the same thing.  When I had my tumor biopsies (lung and breast) done, I wanted to send some tissue to Foundation One (foundationone.com) for genomic profiling.  They need fresh tissue so I thought it would be easiest to do it then.  She disagreed saying it wouldn't change my treatment.  I'm one who prefers more information than less and I have a metastatic friend here who used Foundation One and found out a lot of additional information that might have predicted that some chemos she had tried were unlikely to work.  That being said, since I'm on Tamoxifen and haven't had any chemo yet, my MO is correct that it wouldn't change my treatment.  Given that tumor genomics can change, it's probably not worth doing it too early.  That's great that your tumors are tiny.  I had a 4cm one that at last scan had shrunk to 3cm plus "multiple satellites".  Would have been hard for them to miss that thing during the biopsy!

    Hugs, Susan

  • liljohnnysmommy
    liljohnnysmommy Member Posts: 17
    edited September 2014

    Thanks Everyone

    I am sure they use a stander plan of care and i know he knows more than me but i just want someone who will talk and listen to me.  Let me know whats there so i know if its getting better or worse.  Trying to quit smoking and drinking dr. pepper is not helping me much.....trying to cut way back before i cut myself off.

    Did get myself a new PCP today she was great for a first meeting ...listen to me and is even going to send me for a 2nd opinion with another Ca doc.  ct scan will be oct 6 and a bone scan as well ..worried it may be in the bones due too had been having right shoulder and arm pain since before christmas and had been seeing a bone doc who gave me meds ...was to have mri in july but got canceled due too being in hospital and they refused to do it in patient.  

    Just going to keep Praying and putting my faith in God that he leads me to the right paths. Still torn and scared but know i need more informed about what my dx other than what  he told me.   Thanks ladies for the advice and letting me in on whats going on with you.  You are a strong group of ladies just hoping and praying I can be too.

    frances

  • liljohnnysmommy
    liljohnnysmommy Member Posts: 17
    edited September 2014

    Don't know if there is a thread for this but I was hoping to find out what kind of diet/lifestyle changes I need to be working on. 

  • blondiex46
    blondiex46 Member Posts: 2,726
    edited September 2014

    carol so sorry for the Se's you are having...

  • Carolben
    Carolben Member Posts: 265
    edited September 2014

    oh good, Brenda, we celebrate our week off together!  It is quite shocking for me to get so weak after being so much more active. Am feeling much better today though, drove my scooter for the first time in a week & took myself off to the beach for a short walk, listening to Cat Stevens. Saw what I thought were seals, but turned out to be scuba divers!! My vision is definitely affected! But it was nice to get out on my own & walk a bit with the sea air.

    Then I'm going for lunch with a friend, my appetite is better so I'm looking forward to eating something nice. Oh, I LOVE my week off & feeling human & like doing stuff!!

    Have lots of muscle weakness, legs, arms, shoulders. But have decided to do a bit of yoga or a walk each day.

    So I have a scan on Thursday - the moment of truth! Then see my onc on Friday, &, I'm guessing, start cycle 4 of chemo, all being well.... Scanxious!!

  • GatorGal
    GatorGal Member Posts: 750
    edited September 2014

    Gosh, so much has happened since I was away.  I've just spent a bit of time reading through all the posts I have missed.  I can't possibly address all that is going on but welcome to those who are new here, though sorry you've had to come.  I agree with everyone who said getting a second opinion is important, and feeling comfortable with your oncologist as well.  There seems to be a lot of crappy doctors out there!  Best to all of you going through chemo and AI treatments with hopes for minimal SE's.  I was in Houston last week visiting my BFF and ended up with bronchitis.  Got to visit MD Anderson's ER so now am a registered patient there.  They said I was welcome to come back anytime for a trial!  LOL!  I did take it upon myself to delay my chemo a week.  Just couldn't face feeling crappy for another week!  It was good to crawl back into my own bed, though!!  And good to get back to this thread and my lung metster buddies!!  Have a good weekend, all!  It looks to be beautiful weather here in Maryland!  Glenna

  • tarheelmichelle
    tarheelmichelle Member Posts: 248
    edited September 2014

    hi Glenna, sorry to hear about your bronchitis. Houston has terrible humidity in summer and whenever I visit I have trouble breathing. The bright side of your bronchitis, that you mentioned,  now you are registered at MDA, is precious. You have such a good attitude about adversity and it is infectious. I hope your week of rest before chemo gives you strength and comfort. 

    Just wanted to say hello to the new gals. The first 6 months, you think you are going to die that very day, but you will adjust and be able to handle the complexities of treatment. 

    Frances, you know you must quit smoking, but you shouldn't have to do it alone. Talk to your doctor about ways to quit, maybe dr. can prescribe medicine temporarily to help your anxieties. Nicotine is a wonderful drug, I know, I used to smoke. 😜 You just have to find a replacement. My husband was a heavy smoker and now uses the lozenges.

    I wish you and all the newcomers peace as you navigate this new road. It does get smoother. That doesn't mean we all improve, inevitably we know where this leads. But we adjust, and keep going, and keep living, and there's so much joy in that. 

  • liljohnnysmommy
    liljohnnysmommy Member Posts: 17
    edited September 2014

    Hi Ladies Nice to meet you just hate the reasons .....I am still having anxiety but some better the med PCP gave me has helped a lot ...now i think ever little pain i feel is more cancer. TarheeMichele you are right i am going to have to get the doc to help plus got to get my hubby to quit as well. Glenna glad you had a good vacation and sorry about your bronchitis 

    frances

  • GatorGal
    GatorGal Member Posts: 750
    edited September 2014

    Frances, where in Kentucky are you from?  I'm from Vanceburg ... A very small town in NE Kentucky on the ohio river.  Still have lots of family in the area though many have moved north to Ohio.  My fpdad was navy so we moved around and settled in Florida though I've been in maryland since 1981.  I'm with tarheel, you should get help with the smoking cessation.  My husband smoked for over 30 years but was able to quit using the nicotine patch.  There is a thread for healthier lifestyles and if you search down through the stage IV threads I'm sure you can find it.  I haven't made too many changes except for smoothies, which I love and probably get most of my nourishment from.  Also I don't drink wine for a week after chemo.  Onc says 2 glasses of wine a night are okay but I just feel my liver has enough to process when I am on chemo and I lay off.  

    Carolben and Brenda .... Great that you're on the same chemo schedule.  It helps to have a chemo buddy, even if you're across the world from each other!  Hoping for a good scan next week, Carolben.  Sure understand your being scanxious!  

    Guess I missed the boat on genomic profiling.  Onc never mentioned it and I never heard of it til lately.  I love reading about the advancements they are making.  Waiting, waiting, waiting .... For the cure!!

  • Hindsfeet
    Hindsfeet Member Posts: 675
    edited September 2014


    I read that once bc goes to the lung it then is an easy pathway to the brain. True or false? I have bc in one of my lung lobes as to maybe why it progressed to the brain?

  • GatorGal
    GatorGal Member Posts: 750
    edited September 2014

    I've had it in my lungs for 6 years ..... Nothing in the brain!!    

  • Beatmon
    Beatmon Member Posts: 617
    edited September 2014

    Ladies, what happens next after the 6 rounds of taxotere, perjeta and herceptin if there is no or little improvement? Is the taxotere ever repeated or is it a one time thing?

  • DeliriumPie
    DeliriumPie Member Posts: 1,186
    edited September 2014

    Hindsfeet, mine started in my lung. Learned a year later that it was in the lung from beginning apparently held stable by AC/t and with slight growth on Halaven trial. They always poopoo those lung nodules and say they are nothing. I had a lung resection in April to remove two wedges and they hoped that would be. She leaned towards waiting to see what would happen instead of putting me in chemo with what looked like NED. That will now haunt me forever. In what must be the last months time everything has just exploded. All the brain lesions, the chest lymphs, a new lung nodule in a different place. MO told me there was nothing new around my reaction areas, like tht was good news or something. Well I guess it is good there aren't more. Lol.  I realized a while back one of te scary sounding numbers they told me at first dx was actually my ki67 score. It was in the 90s. She didn't really explain what that meant at the time. This week I saw her type extremely fast growing cancer in my chart. Ha. No joke lady, I can feel it growing as I count down to chemo. Sorry for the long story his morning ladies. All I meant to say was yes mine started in the lung and went to brain but feeling contemplative this morning I guess. 

    I hope everyone has a peaceful Saturday. 

  • carpe_diem
    carpe_diem Member Posts: 599
    edited September 2014

    I've had mets in the pleural lining of the lung since July 2010, based on unexplained pleural effusions that turned out to be mets from a breast tumor that didn't show up on mammograms and ultrasound. The nodules were biopsied March 2011 after my bc was finally diagnosed and I've been on anastrozole ever since. Despite moderate grade (2) and fairly high KI67 (27) I've had no progression. The nodules show up on CT scans, but showed very little activity on PET/CT in August 2013 (Medicare doesn't much care to pay for PET scans and my current onc uses them sparingly). I had mastectomy, radiation, and reconstruction starting November 2012, which may not have been necessary or useful, but doesn't seem to have stirred anything up. So no known mets to the brain in my case and my last onc called my cancer "indolent." 

    I hope it stays that way!

  • Momonana6
    Momonana6 Member Posts: 154
    edited September 2014

    Adnerb...Thanks for your informative post.  It is really important to be up on research that may impact any clinical trial availability for one of us.  Be well.  Peg

  • Hindsfeet
    Hindsfeet Member Posts: 675
    edited September 2014

    HER2+ is famous for going from lungs to brain so I heard. It is usually the last stage for HER2+ TUMORS.. I am surprised my went so quickly to the brain. I had Gamma Knife surgery on 4 tumors in the brain. I'm hoping it worked, and the targeted therapy with Herceptin/Perjeta, hormone blockers keep the lung mets in check so no more brain tumors.

    It is the brain tumors that scare me the most...I haven't even had time yet to think about lung mets or the 2 tumors found in the liver. Just trying to survive one day at a time...


     

  • liljohnnysmommy
    liljohnnysmommy Member Posts: 17
    edited September 2014

    Glenna 

    I am from Harlan which is close to the TN and VA lines..can be in either in less than a hour. The smoking thing is driving me nuts ..have cut back but still not where i need to be plus hubby does smoke and wanting him to stop to because its just hurting me if he don't...one other smoker in house but my nephew goes outside.  As of right now i only know mine is in outer lining of right lung and plural area but scared to death it could be in other areas.  We lost our insurance in 2012 when hubby was laid off so that was the last time i had seen my ca doc but at the time all he was doing where a blood maker 27/29 told me as long as it stayed below35 would not go looking.  When i got back to work and got insurance i was restricted to only the hospital chain i was working at and of course i tried multiply times to get into to see a ca doc and got the run around.  So stupid me did not push harder now here i am worried and beating my self up.  waiting for the ct and bone scans on the 6th is driving me over the edge.  He has me only on the Tamoxifen right now.   Thanks for sharing stories ladies. Sorry for what each of you go thur but happy you are here! Hope to have a long run but fearing the worse still ..maybe if 6 months gets here and i am still around i will chill out some (sorry)

    frances

  • liljohnnysmommy
    liljohnnysmommy Member Posts: 17
    edited September 2014

    Praying for each and every one of us on the boards

  • Adnerb
    Adnerb Member Posts: 727
    edited September 2014

    Carolben, good luck next week!

    Glenna, another good thing about brochitis:  it's not cancer!

    Beatmon, you usually find another line of treatment, i.e. different chemo or anti-hormonal or her2 drug.

    Hindsfeet:  I personally knew 2 ladies who both had triple negative BC and liver metastases before going to the brain.  No lung mets for either of them.

    Hugs, everyone!

  • Momonana6
    Momonana6 Member Posts: 154
    edited September 2014

    Hi Ladies,  I have been following your posts with great interest and have felt that I have learned much along this ride since my MBC dx with mets to the lung last December.  I am really encouraged by your gutsy "move on" attitude.  This is not to diminish your honest caring for fellow "metsters".

    I have a little question.....Those of you who are taking Herceptin and/or Faslodex.....How long have you been on that regimen?  My situation is that I have been taking both meds (Her2and ER+) for 9 months with no change in scans etc....nothing that the MOs feel is a progression.   CA 27/29..steady at 58 all that time.   I really feel great but would love to know more about my disease status from the oncs and where I stand treatment wise.  Have  any of you experienced a similar situation?   Thanks ladies, sending best thoughts for good test results and minimal se with your treatments.   Peg

  • Adnerb
    Adnerb Member Posts: 727
    edited September 2014

    Peg,

    Here's a link to the Faslodex thread:

    https://community.breastcancer.org/forum/8/topic/816419?page=22#idx_653

    Brenda

  • liljohnnysmommy
    liljohnnysmommy Member Posts: 17
    edited September 2014

    woke up with a sore scratchy throat and cough seems my nephew has carried in a little something to share with my family :(.  

  • Momonana6
    Momonana6 Member Posts: 154
    edited September 2014

    Thanks Brenda.....That is a good help.  I am still trying to find my way around the threads  LOL   Peg

  • Carolben
    Carolben Member Posts: 265
    edited September 2014

    hope you're all over the bronchitis, Glenna ( do you prefer Gatorgal or Glenna?) it can really knock you when you're on chemo, not nice. And I so get the relief at climbing into your own bed!!

    My scan shows all STABLE - so hello to dancing with the stable boy again! So relieved. Had chemo yesterday, so the dancing will wait a bit, my steroided head's doing the dancing right now. My body has collapsed on my couch!

    How was your chemo yesterday, Brenda? Hope you're not feeling too  crappy today!

    Asked my onc if he would say my cancer is indolent (have never that before) and he said no, but it's less aggressive than a lot of triple negs. 

    Loljohnnysmom, hope sore throat didn't develop into anything bigger? We have a horrible strain of flu going around here, so am being extra careful!

    Hoping for a peaceful &/or happy weekend for us all x

  • tryn2staycalm
    tryn2staycalm Member Posts: 470
    edited September 2014


    Carolben - Congrats to dancing with stable boy!  Hope he saves me a dance.  Just had scans... find out Thursday.  Having a bit of that scanxiety! 

    Cathy

  • liljohnnysmommy
    liljohnnysmommy Member Posts: 17
    edited September 2014

    Carol Happy you are dancing with stable boy! praying its a long dance :).  We all got a good dose of what i think is head colds here. I am with you Cathy having scananxity right now ..counting down the days 16 more to go before bone and ct scan ...just hate having scans on the 6th and not seeing MD till 15th

  • blondiex46
    blondiex46 Member Posts: 2,726
    edited September 2014

    Yay congrats, dont wear him out

    There is stuff going around take care of yourself.  Asked dr ifi should get the flu n pneumonia shot, yep I will..weigh 156 which is awesome, no radiation cause  no pain, it is finr, gave me ativian for sleep just took 2. Had a busy day today should b exhausted, yea right steroids have another idea.  Need them forever t help with the breathing, so I will b speeding 4 a while, b great if I had the energy to clean, lol

  • Adnerb
    Adnerb Member Posts: 727
    edited September 2014

    Carolben:  Yeah!  I want you and that stable boy to have a long, happy relationship till NED shows up!!!

    Blondie:  The steroids do help with the breathing, don't they?  I always have better breathing right after chemo and I have never attributed this to steroids!  I always thought the chemo was working!

    Cathy:  I am anxiously awaiting your scan result as well.  Please let us know when you get it.  I am praying for a good result.

    Brenda

  • blondiex46
    blondiex46 Member Posts: 2,726
    edited September 2014

    Yep they sure do.