The Sydney-based research team has found a gene that drives the aggressive disease, and hopes to find a way to ‘switch it off’. The aggressive form of triple-negative breast cancer appears to arise from stem cells, while the more benign form appears to arise from specialised cells. …
Several clinical trials – where women with breast cancer were given these drugs (bisphosphonates) alongside normal treatment for early-stage disease – showed that they can confer a ‘survival advantage’ and inhibit cancer spread in some women, although until now no-one has understood why. …
“This fascinating new finding could help doctors adapt their treatments to patients with bladder cancer,” said Nell Barrie, Cancer Research UK The team from The University of Manchester, funded by the Medical Research Council, found that patients whose bladder tumor had high levels of a protein, called ‘HIF-1α’, were more likely to benefit from having carbogen — oxygen mixed with carbon dioxide gas — and nicotinamide tablets at the same time as their radiotherapy. The treatment, called ‘CON’, makes radiotherapy more effective. By comparing levels of HIF-1α in tissue samples from 137 patients who had radiotherapy on its own or with CON, the researchers found the protein predicted which patients benefited from having CON. High levels of the protein were linked to better survival from the disease when patients had radiotherapy and CON. …
Until now, the strategies for treating this tumor were aimed at attacking the tumor cells and had little success. The latest studies indicate that trying to destroy what surrounds the tumor is possibly a better strategy…