A group of researchers from the National Cancer Center and other entities have worked out a method to sharply curb the growth of breast cancer by inhibiting a gene that makes cancerous cells resistant to a chemotherapy drug.
The method has proven effective in an experiment with mice and will be announced at a meeting of the Japanese Cancer Association in Yokohama on Sept. 30, the researchers said. It could contribute to developing a treatment to surmount drug resistance, which affects the majority of breast-cancer patients, the researchers said.
The group, including Takahiro Ochiya, head of the section for studies on metastasis at the center's Research Institute in Tokyo, found that a gene called RPN2 regulates the working of a protein that pumps out a chemotherapy drug from cancerous cells.
They inhibited RPN2 by using a technique called RNA interference in a mouse transplanted with breast cancer found resistant to a chemotherapy drug. The drug, docetaxel, proved to be effective in fighting cancer in the mouse, reducing a tumor with a diameter of 5 mm to less than 1 mm in seven days.
"After confirming the safety for humans, we would like to aim at establishing a treatment for various forms of cancer," Ochiya said. "We can expect a merit of alleviating the side effects of an anticancer drug by reducing its dose, and in some patients, surgery may become unnecessary."
With your current subscription plan you can comment on stories. However, before writing your first comment, please create a display name in the Profile section of your subscriber account page.