• Test reports in the Field of Health, Fitness and Medicine
  • Data Protection
  • Impressum
  • Sitemap
  • Home
  • Allgemein
  • Drug Halts Growth of Stubborn Breast Cancer Cells
  • 20. October 2020
  • 0 comments
  • Maria Bauer
  • Allgemein

Drug Halts Growth of Stubborn Breast Cancer Cells

The tricky breast cancer cells that scientists say survive through chemotherapy treatments and sprout new cancer growths elsewhere in the body may soon meet their match.

A new study shows that these cells, called breast cancer stem cells, rely on a certain molecular pathway to survive, and that when this pathway is turned off by a drug, the cells stop dividing.

Not all types of breast cancer have these stem cells, said study researcher Dr. Kornelia Polyak, an associate professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School.

But about 50 percent of the hard-to-treat “triple-negative” breast cancer patients do have them, Polyak said. Triple-negative breast cancers get their name from the fact that they lack three hormone receptors found in other breast cancers.

There are no targeted therapies (which are treatments designed to selectively kill cancer cells) currently approved to treat triple-negative breast cancers , so chemotherapy (which affects many cells in the body) remains the only option, and it does not work for 80 percent of patients, Polyak said.

The new study reveals a way that a targeted therapy might work. The researchers found 15 genes that had higher levels of activity in breast cancer stem cells than in other breast cancer cells. They then found that all these genes played a role in a single pathway in the cells — called the Jak2/Stat3 pathway.

The high level of activity of the genes led the researchers to discover that not only is this pathway activated in breast cancer stem cells, but also that the stem cells need the pathway to be turned on in order to divide.

“When it's off, the tumors stopped growing,” and some of the cancer stem cells died, Polyak said. Other cells, which do not have this pathway activated, can survive even if this pathway is blocked. So, the researchers concluded, blocking this pathway with a drug would be a good strategy for selectively halting the growth of these cells.

“Cancer stem cells” are not the same as other stem cells, Polyak noted, they are simply cells within a tumor that seem to give rise to new tumors more easily than other cancer cells do. Because of the many genetic changes that constantly occur in cancer cells, any given cancer cell may become a “cancer stem cell,” or can revert back.

“We're very excited about the findings,” Polyak said, because the pathway is not only crucial to the growth of the cancer stem cells, it is also involved with the growth of blood vessels that feed tumors and with the production of inflammation around tumors. By blocking this pathway, she said, “we can hit tumor multiple different ways.”

The study was conducted on human breast cancer cells growing in lab dishes and injected into mice to form tumors, so the findings need to be validated in clinical trials done with breast cancer patients .

But drugs that block this pathway, which can be taken orally, are already being tested in several types of blood cancer, so much of initial safety testing has already been done, Polyak said. In fact, a clinical trial is set to begin in patients with triple-negative breast cancer at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in Boston later this year, she said.

Triple-negative breast cancers make up about 15 to 20 percent of breast cancers and tend to occur in younger women, those with BRCA1 gene mutations, and black women.


Pass it on: Scientists have identified a way to selectively kill breast cancer stem cells.

  • 7 Cancers You Can Ward Off with Exercise
  • The 10 Deadliest Cancers and Why There’s No Cure
  • Infographic : How Breast Cancer Metastasizes

Follow MyHealthNewsDaily Managing Editor KarenRowan on Twitter @karenjrowan

Maria-Cakehealth
Maria Bauer

Maria is our expert for medicine, fitness and general health. Her contributions are particularly convincing through completeness, accuracy and her own personal experience. Maria also writes for other health magazines, which has enabled her to build up her expert status.

Leave Comment

or cancel reply

Suche
Beliebte Beiträge
  • 7 Ways Alcohol Affects Your Health
    • 18. February 2021
    • 0
  • For Women, Sex May Be Improved by ‘Mindfulness Meditation’
    • 18. February 2021
    • 0
  • Autistic Brain Excels at Recognizing Patterns
    • 9. February 2021
    • 0
  • Swine Flu May Cause Baldness
    • 9. February 2021
    • 0
  • Dogs’ Contagious Cancer Cells May Survive By Theft
    • 9. February 2021
    • 0
  • Are You Sitting Down? If You’re a College Senior, Probably
    • 9. February 2021
    • 0
  • New Test May Screen Donated Blood for Fatal Disease-Causing Proteins
    • 9. February 2021
    • 0
  • Exercise Can’t Undo the Damage of Too Much Screen Time
    • 9. February 2021
    • 0
  • Melanoma Drug Shrinks Tumors, Study Finds
    • 9. February 2021
    • 0
  • Co-Conspirator Cells Contribute to Skin Cancer
    • 9. February 2021
    • 0
  • YouTube May Help Elderly Dementia Patients
    • 9. February 2021
    • 0
  • Brain Functioning Decline Higher in Southern ‘Stroke Belt’
    • 9. February 2021
    • 0
  • 8 Tips for Healthy Aging
    • 9. February 2021
    • 0
  • Alzheimer’s Vs. Normal Aging: How to Tell the Difference
    • 9. February 2021
    • 0
  • Soy Compounds May Cut Risk of Some Breast Cancers
    • 9. February 2021
    • 0
  • Estrogen May Curb Breast Cancer As Well As Promote It
    • 9. February 2021
    • 0
  • Flu Season Worse Than Usual
    • 9. February 2021
    • 0
  • Most Young Flu Victims Had Not Been Vaccinated, Fatality Report Says
    • 9. February 2021
    • 0
  • Indoor Tanners Use Beds Despite Boosting Skin Cancer Risk
    • 9. February 2021
    • 0
  • Gene Therapy May Ease Tremors in Parkinson’s Patients
    • 9. February 2021
    • 0
  • Alzheimer’s Often Misdiagnosed Until Later On
    • 9. February 2021
    • 0
  • In Trauma Patients, Steroids May Reduce Pneumonia Risk
    • 9. February 2021
    • 0
  • Will USDA’s New ‘Plate’ Icon Make a Difference in American Diets?
    • 9. February 2021
    • 0
  • Can Changing Your Diet Decrease Your Risk of Alzheimer’s?
    • 9. February 2021
    • 0
  • Preventive Measures Against Alzheimer’s Still Uncertain, Report Finds
    • 9. February 2021
    • 0
  • Exercise During Pregnancy Benefits Baby’s Heart
    • 9. February 2021
    • 0
  • Hypertension Death Rate Drops, But Fatalities Still High
    • 9. February 2021
    • 0
  • More Years of Schooling Have Healthful Effect on Blood Pressure
    • 9. February 2021
    • 0
  • Heavy Beer Drinkers Increase Their Gastric Cancer Risk
    • 9. February 2021
    • 0
  • Weight Gain: How Food Actually Puts on Pounds
    • 9. February 2021
    • 0
  • Want a Smaller Waist? Take More Breaks From Sitting
    • 9. February 2021
    • 0
  • New Rules on Vitamin D and Calcium: Most People Get Enough
    • 9. February 2021
    • 0
  • For Melanoma Patients, Arthritis Drug Could Treat Disease
    • 9. February 2021
    • 0
  • Brain Overgrowth in Tots Is Linked to Autism
    • 9. February 2021
    • 0
  • Airborne Mad Cow Disease Possible, But Unlikely
    • 9. February 2021
    • 0
  • Most High School Kids Don’t Get Enough Exercise, CDC Reports
    • 9. February 2021
    • 0
  • Is the 17 Day Diet Just Another Weight-Loss Gimmick?
    • 9. February 2021
    • 0
  • Lead Exposure May Delay Puberty in Girls
    • 9. February 2021
    • 0
  • The Healthy Geezer: Does Mercury Cause Cancer?
    • 9. February 2021
    • 0
  • 11% of Infants Born Preterm Worldwide
    • 9. February 2021
    • 0
  • Severe Morning Sickness Linked to Preterm Births
    • 9. February 2021
    • 0
  • More Money and No Dad Could Mean Early Puberty in Girls
    • 9. February 2021
    • 0
  • Too Little or Too Much Sleep May Raise Heart, Stroke Risks
    • 8. February 2021
    • 0
  • Relapse Common for Teens Who Overcome Depression
    • 8. February 2021
    • 0
  • Repeated Miscarriages May Increase Women’s Heart Attack Risk
    • 8. February 2021
    • 0
  • Earlier Detection of Dangerous Ectopic Pregnancies Possible with New Marker
    • 8. February 2021
    • 0
  • It’s in the Blood: New Hope for Detecting Schizophrenia
    • 8. February 2021
    • 0
  • Alcohol Abuse May Lead to Marriage Postponement, Separation
    • 8. February 2021
    • 0
  • Marriage Trouble Could Mean Poor Sleep for Baby
    • 8. February 2021
    • 0
  • Weight-Loss Surgery May Improve Memory
    • 8. February 2021
    • 0

Copyright © 2020 by cakehealth.com

Impressum|Data Protection | Sitemap EN|Sitemap DE