Researchers discover new way to target secondary breast cancer that has
spread to the brain
Date:
January 28, 2022
Source:
RCSI
Summary:
A study has revealed a potential new way to treat secondary breast
cancer that has spread to the brain, using existing drugs.
FULL STORY ==========================================================================
A study led by researchers at RCSI University of Medicine and Health
Sciences and the Beaumont RCSI Cancer Centre (BRCC) has revealed a
potential new way to treat secondary breast cancer that has spread to
the brain, using existing drugs.
==========================================================================
The study, published in Nature Communications, was funded by Breast
Cancer Ireland with support from Breast Cancer Now and Science Foundation Ireland.
Most breast cancer related deaths are a result of treatment relapse
leading to spread of tumours to many organs around the body. When
secondary breast cancer, also known as metastatic breast cancer, spreads
to the brain it can be particularly aggressive, sometimes giving patients
just months to live.
The RCSI study focused on genetically tracking the tumour evolution from diagnosis of primary breast to the metastatic spread in the brain in
cancer patients. The researchers found that almost half of the tumours
had changes in the way they repair their DNA, making these tumours
vulnerable to an existing type of drug known as a PARP inhibitor. PARP inhibitor drugs work by preventing cancer cells to repair their DNA,
which results in the cancer cells dying.
"There are inadequate treatment options for people with breast cancer
that has spread to the brain and research focused on expanding treatment options is urgently needed. Our study represents an important development
in getting one step closer to a potential treatment for patients with
this devastating complication of breast cancer," commented Professor
Leonie Young, the study's Principal Investigator.
"By uncovering these new vulnerabilities in DNA pathways in brain
metastasis, our research opens up the possibility of novel treatment
strategies for patients who previously had limited targeted therapy
options," said study author Dr Damir Vareslija.
The research, led by Beaumont RCSI Cancer Centre investigators Professor
Leonie Young, Dr Nicola Cosgrove, Dr Damir Vareslija and Professor
Arnold Hill, was carried out in collaboration with the Mayo Clinic and University of Pittsburgh, USA.
special promotion Explore the latest scientific research on sleep and
dreams in this free online course from New Scientist -- Sign_up_now_>>> ========================================================================== Story Source: Materials provided by RCSI. Note: Content may be edited
for style and length.
========================================================================== Journal Reference:
1. Nicola Cosgrove, Damir Vareslija, Stephen Keelan, Ashuvinee
Elangovan,
Jennifer M. Atkinson, Sine'ad Cocchiglia, Fiona T. Bane, Vikrant
Singh, Simon Furney, Chunling Hu, Jodi M. Carter, Steven N. Hart,
Siddhartha Yadav, Matthew P. Goetz, Arnold D. K. Hill, Steffi
Oesterreich, Adrian V.
Lee, Fergus J. Couch, Leonie S. Young. Mapping molecular subtype
specific alterations in breast cancer brain metastases identifies
clinically relevant vulnerabilities. Nature Communications, 2022;
13 (1) DOI: 10.1038/s41467-022-27987-5 ==========================================================================
Link to news story:
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2022/01/220128100747.htm
--- up 7 weeks, 6 days, 7 hours, 13 minutes
* Origin: -=> Castle Rock BBS <=- Now Husky HPT Powered! (1:317/3)