Breast cancer New drug for the therapy should be successful

New treatment option for aggressive triple negative breast cancer discovered
Breast cancer is today relatively well treatable in many cases, but this does not apply to the so-called triple negative breast cancer, in which the prognosis is usually much worse. New hope for those affected offers the use of an inhibitor, the scientists of the Albert-Ludwigs-Universität Freiburg and the University Hospital Freiburg have tested in a recent study.

"Although the prognosis for breast cancer has steadily improved over the past decades, there is a subgroup with triple negative breast cancer, which usually receives a significantly worse prognosis," according to the University of Freiburg. About 15 percent of the patients are affected by this form of breast cancer. In the future, they may possibly be treated with a newly discovered inhibitor, which has had a very convincing effect in initial trials. The results of these experiments have been published by the Freiburg researchers in the journal "Cancer Research".

The treatment options for triple-negative breast cancer have been poor so far, but a now-tested epigenetic inhibitor may change this in the future. (Image: WavebreakMediaMicro / fotolia.com)

Often poor prognosis in triple negative breast cancer
The triple negative breast cancer remains very poorly treatable. According to recent findings, this is due to the fact that a small population of cells in the tumors maintains their growth. These cells are particularly resistant to chemotherapeutic agents and can lead to relapse and the formation of metastases. "They are called cancer stem cells because they have similar properties to normal stem cells in the body," reports the University of Freiburg. Facing the negative characteristics of cancer stem cells, the search for targeted therapies against these cells has been a focus of recent research, but so far only a few models have been available to study cancer stem cells, according to the scientists.

Investigations in the cancer stem cell model
The Freiburg researchers of the Center for Translational Cell Research (ZTZ) have, according to their own statements, developed a model that allows the isolation of cancer stem cells from tumor material from breast cancer patients without the aid of an animal model. For example, under specific housing conditions, the scientists were able to cultivate several cancerous breast cell lines from triple negative breast cancer, which represent a very good picture of their original patient tumor. In this cancer stem cell model, the research group Jochen Maurer from the ZTZ and Prof. Dr. med. Roland Schüle from the Center for Clinical Research (ZKF) has developed several newly developed epigenetic inhibitors.

Epigenetic inhibitor with convincing action
Epigenetic inhibitors initiate the activity of genes without altering the DNA itself. The scientists from the Cluster of Excellence BIOSS Center for Biological Signaling Studies of the University of Freiburg and Freiburg University Hospital have now been able to show. inhibition of the epigenetic regulator KDM4 with the help of an inhibitor could represent a new treatment option for triple negative breast cancer. A US-developed KDM4 inhibitor was found to be particularly promising in the experiments, the scientists report.

With regard to the treatment of breast cancer stem cells, the inhibitor of the epigenetic regulator KDM4 has shown a very convincing effect according to the researchers. "In several cancer stem cell lines, the dangerous properties could be blocked by the inhibitor and the cells specifically eliminated," the scientists write. In addition, a reduction in tumor growth had been achieved in initial animal experiments. (Fp)