another thing I had to find out on my own/ER pos. PR neg/significance

ohilly
ohilly Member Posts: 441
edited March 2014 in Breast Cancer #1
Yet another thing no doctor explained to me (Okay, I did not ask, but how would I know to ask?). For some time I have been thinking about the fact that my cancer was considered HIGHLY estrogen positive, but HER2negative and PR negative. Up till now, I thought the PR neg. part was not too important because the most important thing was being ER positive and therefore able to respond to the chemo and Femara which I did/am doing. Well, I decided to research this a little more and went online: breastcancer.org said that the combo of ER pos. and PR neg. means I will respond less to the hormonals.

Does anyone else know about this? I find it upsetting.

Ohilly

Comments

  • ritazimm
    ritazimm Member Posts: 171
    #2
    sorry
    I am sorry to hear of your discovery. Unfortunately I do not know about it (and it is not my situation). I just know how much we need to hold on to each little piece that brings more hope so don't let this cause a stumble in your 'keeping the faith'. I will try to talk to my oncology nurse friends and see what they have to say. Unfortunately I think they have gone home for the day so I will have toget back to you on Monday.

    God Bless!
    Rita
  • ohilly
    ohilly Member Posts: 441
    #3
    ritazimm said:

    sorry
    I am sorry to hear of your discovery. Unfortunately I do not know about it (and it is not my situation). I just know how much we need to hold on to each little piece that brings more hope so don't let this cause a stumble in your 'keeping the faith'. I will try to talk to my oncology nurse friends and see what they have to say. Unfortunately I think they have gone home for the day so I will have toget back to you on Monday.

    God Bless!
    Rita

    Thanks
    Thank you, Rita! I am waiting with bated breath to hear what you find out.

    Ohilly
  • ritazimm
    ritazimm Member Posts: 171
    #4
    Better Late than Never Ohilly
    Hey, sorry it took me so long. I have a personal friend that actually is a nurse for my oncologist. She wanted to be sure she gave me a correct answer so she waited until she could speak with him (after patients).

    He says that the negative progesterone does not really have any effect on the treatment at all. In people that are E+ and PR+ the cancer feeds off of both of the hormones. In your case the cancer only feeds off of the estrogen and the progesterone does not effect that cancer growth at all. The antiestrogen or aromatase inhibitors (tamoxifen/Arimidex, etc.) are given to stop the cancer cells from being able to receive any estrogen and/or progesterone thus, hopefully it cannot grow. In your case the drugs are going to still block the cancer cells from being able to find any estorgen and progesterone BUT the fact that it won't have any progesterone is irrelevant because it doesn't feed off of it anyway. So taking these drugs does not make the medications less effective for you, it will do the same thing, it just doesn't matter the the cancer about the progesterone.

    I hope that makes sense and takes a load off of your mind!
    Again, sorry it took so long to get you an answer!

    God bless!
  • ohilly
    ohilly Member Posts: 441
    #5
    ritazimm said:

    Better Late than Never Ohilly
    Hey, sorry it took me so long. I have a personal friend that actually is a nurse for my oncologist. She wanted to be sure she gave me a correct answer so she waited until she could speak with him (after patients).

    He says that the negative progesterone does not really have any effect on the treatment at all. In people that are E+ and PR+ the cancer feeds off of both of the hormones. In your case the cancer only feeds off of the estrogen and the progesterone does not effect that cancer growth at all. The antiestrogen or aromatase inhibitors (tamoxifen/Arimidex, etc.) are given to stop the cancer cells from being able to receive any estrogen and/or progesterone thus, hopefully it cannot grow. In your case the drugs are going to still block the cancer cells from being able to find any estorgen and progesterone BUT the fact that it won't have any progesterone is irrelevant because it doesn't feed off of it anyway. So taking these drugs does not make the medications less effective for you, it will do the same thing, it just doesn't matter the the cancer about the progesterone.

    I hope that makes sense and takes a load off of your mind!
    Again, sorry it took so long to get you an answer!

    God bless!

    thanks
    Thank you for telling me. I read something different on the internet, but since your answer was given by an oncologist and also makes intuitive sense to me, I'll believe what you tell me. I also plan to ask my own oncologist about it when I see him, but that will be in 3 months.

    Ohilly

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