Scientists have found a method of significantly slowing the growth of the most aggressive form of breast cancer.
Researchers at Oxford and Nottingham Universities used a new drug to attack the disease in deeper regions of cancer tumours than conventional therapies like chemotherapy or radiotherapy are often able to reach.
JQ1, which was trialled on human cancer tumours grown in mice, works by altering the way cancer cells respond to hypoxia – or low oxygen – a feature most commonly found in triple negative cancer, the form of the disease hardest to treat.
The scientists found the drug was able to slow the growth of cancerous tumours by roughly a third each day.
They predict that, when combined with chemotherapy and radiotherapy, the drug could bring “added benefits” to patients with a triple negative variation, which make up about 15 percent of the roughly 50,000 women diagnosed with breast cancer each year.
Breast cancers that are starved of oxygen, such as the triple negative form, are difficult to treat because the cancer cells adapt to hypoxia in ways that make them resistant to standard therapies.
Low oxygen levels prompt tumour cells to turn on specific genes which send signals for new blood vessels to supply them with fresh oxygen, giving cancer the nutrients it needs to grow.
JQ1, one of a class of drugs known as BET inhibitors, tackles this process at a molecular level.
Dr Alan McIntyre, co-author of the study, which is published in the journal Oncogene, said: “Triple negative breast cancer is a challenge.
“By tackling hypoxia that so often compromises the treatment of breast cancers, JQ1 could be an important key to helping women with aggressive breast tumours.
“It was really quite a good result, particularly as we were just using this drug and not any others.
“I do feel it could mean added benefits for patients.”
Triple negative breast cancer is so called because it lacks receptors for oestrogen, progesterone and the HER2 protein, which the most successful treatment use to target the disease.
However, tipple negative cancer is typically responsive to chemotherapy.
Dr McIntyre, from the University of Nottingham, said JQ1 was currently being used in clinical trials investigating other cancers and that he expected analysis of those results to show the drug has been benefiting human subjects in the trials.
Spokesman for Cancer Research UK, which provided funding for the new research, said: “This study has unearthed insights into how these drugs could be used to help treat triple negative breast cancer patients who urgently need better treatments.
“Interfering with the with the body’s natural response to hypoxia, or low oxygen, could be a way to stop the spread of the cancer.
“More studies should be carried out to measure how effective JQ1 could be in patients.”
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/science/2016/06/13/drug-found-that-significantly-reduces-growth-of-most-aggressive/
