Breast-Cancer: A Case Study

Human epidermal receptor 2 positive (HER2+) Breast-Cancer (Bc) is one of the most aggressive subtypes of Breast-Cancers that is found in approximately 20% of them (1,4). HER2+BC remains a major cause of morbidity and mortality in women all over the world as once the advanced or metastatic HER2+BC is developed, no treatment can stop the progression. The combination of Trastuzumab; a monoclonal antibody that blocks HER2 receptors, and Docetaxel; a cytotoxic agent, has been approved for use as first-line therapy in patients with metastatic HER2+BC (4, 5). Nevertheless, the majority of patients tend to develop Trastuzumab resistance during the first year of treatment (22) which makes Trastuzumab resistance one of the major challenges in the field of metastatic BC treatment. Only recently, 2013, did a new drug emerge as a promising therapy for patients who are resistant to Trastuzumab. Kadcyla® or Trastuzumab-emtansine, that is now approved by Health Canada for use in patients who had developed resistance against Trastuzumab, targets the …show more content…
PEG-b-PCL copolymers will be prepared by metal-free cationic ring-opening polymerization as previously reported (18), then PEG-b-PCL copolymers will be conjugated with DTX using a well established coupling mechanism (21). Trastuzumab Fab fragments, the targeting moiety, will be prepared by enzymatic digestion of Trastuzumab as previously proposed 42. The targeting moiety will be reacted with (PEG-b-PCL-DTX) using an established method 40,41. Docetaxel encapsulated micelles will be prepared by the film hydration method 43 and the TmAb-Fab-PEG-b-PCL, the targeted copolymers, will be incorporated into the preformed micelles via the transfer method