Arthritis drugs could help to stop breast cancer spreading – study

SIMPLE ARTHRITIS drugs used on the NHS could help stop breast cancer spreading, research suggests.

Scientists propose that arthritis drugs anakinra, canakinumab and sulfasalazine could be re-purposed to help block cancer reaching bones.

Research teams from the University of Manchester and the University of Sheffield discovered that a protein released by bone marrow, called interleukin 1-beta encouraged breast cancer cells to form secondary tumours once they reach the bone. Tests on mice found that this molecule can be blocked by drugs already used to treat arthritis.

The study, largely funded by charity Breast Cancer Now, revealed that anakinra was able to prevent breast cancer forming secondary tumours in the bone.

Following treatment with anakinra, only 14 per cent of mice in the study developed secondary tumours in the bone, compared to 42 per cent of control animals.

According to Breast Cancer Now, 55,000 women and 370 men are diagnosed with breast cancer each year, making it the UK’s most common cancer.

About 11,500 women die from the disease each year, almost all from tumours that have spread to other parts of the body. Lead author of the study, Dr Rachel Eyre, from the University of Manchester, said: “We will now look to see if similar processes are also involved in breast cancer growing in other organs, such as the liver and lungs.”

Breast Cancer Now said it was a “promising step forward”.