New discovery in breast cancer fight
A new approach to tackling breast cancer has been uncovered by British scientists who identified a previously unknown driver of the disease.
Working with laboratory mice, the team found that a protein called lysyl oxidase (LOX) plays an important role in helping breast cancer grow and spread.
A NEW approach to tackling breast cancer has been uncovered by British scientists who identified a previously unknown driver of the disease.
Working with laboratory mice, the team found that a protein called lysyl oxidase (LOX) plays an important role in helping breast cancer grow and spread.
The scientists have also designed a prototype drug that blocks LOX and in mice is able to slow the disease down. They now hope to develop a similar medicine suitable for human patients and test it in clinical trials. Professor Caroline Springer, from the Institute of Cancer Research, London, who co-led the research, said: “We knew that LOX had a role in cancer’s spread round the body, but to discover how it also appears to drive the growth of breast cancer cells is a real game changer.
“It means that drugs that disrupt LOX’s ability to promote growth signals might be able to slow or block cancer progression in patients – as we saw in mice.”
Previously, LOX was known to help control formation of the extracellular matrix – the structure of proteins and connective material that holds tissues together and assists cancer metastasis, or spread.
The new study, published in the journal Nature Communications, showed that it also promoted cancer growth by acting on a molecular receptor called EGFR.
Blocking LOX using the inhibitor drug code-named CCT365623 slowed tumour growth and reduced cancer spread with no side effects.
Dr Justine Alford, from Cancer Research UK, whose scientists at the University of Manchester contributed to the discovery, said: “This research in mice is exciting because it not only reveals new details of how breast cancer grows and spreads, but it could lead to a completely new way to stop these processes in patients if proven in people.
“This could help improve outcomes for patients, since cancer that has spread is harder to treat. LOX is also thought to play a role in a number of other cancers, so this research could also have applications beyond breast cancer.”
Meanwhile, a drug used to treat heart failure is at the centre of a £1m study to establish whether it can save the sight of patients with an untreatable eye condition.
Central serous chorio-retinopathy (CSCR), which is a type of macular degeneration, affects mainly people aged in their 30s and 40s and occurs when fluid gathers under the retina and damages the tissue.
Now doctors believe the drug eplerenone could be used to treat the disease. Professor Andrew Lotery, a consultant opthalmologist at University Hospital Southampton NHS Foundation Trust, is leading the study, which will involve 104 patients at 20 sites across the UK.
He said: “This is a really important study because a number of patients suffer permanent vision loss as a result of this condition, the cause of it is unknown and there are currently no proven treatments for it.
“Recently, a small number of patients have responded to treatment with eplerenone and that is exciting, but information on the long-term benefit and safety is lacking, so we hope this trial will establish the first scientifically proven therapy for CSCR.”
Prof Lotery said although the cause of the condition was unknown, it can occur in families and some genetic changes have been found.
This research reveals new details of how breast cancer grows. Dr Justine Alford, from Cancer Research UK