British researchers have discovered what they are describing as an “Achilles’ Heel” for breast cancer. The team of Newcastle University scientists have found that turning off two cancer-linked proteins reduces the ability of breast tumors to survive and grow.
The scientists, funded by charity Breast Cancer Campaign, believe the finding could lead to the development of new therapies that could combat many types of breast cancer, potentially helping to find a way to stop the return of tumors after treatment, increasing survival chances for women with the disease,
Medical Xpress reports.
The researchers noted that many breast cancers are treated with chemotherapy and radiotherapy, which damages the DNA of the cancer cells, causing them to die. But some breast cancer cells recover from the damage, meaning they can continue to grow and spread from the breast to other parts of the body, which is life-threatening.
But in the new research, published in the journal Nature Communications, lead researcher David Elliott identified a new “pathway” that breast cancer cells rely on to survive involving two proteins. Elliott’s team found that when they removed the proteins, they were able to “turn off” the ability of the cancer cells to divide and grow.
"We now want to look at different types of breast cancer and investigate if turning off the … proteins could be an 'Achilles' heel' for breast cancer cells' ability to divide and grow", said Elliott.
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