Tata Memorial Centre of Mumbai has made a landmark discovery in the battle against aggressive breast cancer, especially triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC), that does not respond to standard therapies. The study, recently published, isolated a known vulnerability of TNBC cells that could make them susceptible to a known drug, a new hope for better treatment prospects.
TNBC is the most malignant type of breast cancer and is responsible for approximately 15% of all cases of breast cancer. TNBC does not express receptors for estrogen, progesterone, or HER2 and is therefore not easily targeted with hormonal or targeted therapies. This tends to make prognosis poor and treatment limited.
The Tata Memorial research team found that TNBC cells that are resistant to chemotherapy have a tendency to overexpress a particular protein that aids them in regrowing and becoming resistant to treatment. But the study revealed that these resistant cells are highly responsive to Gefitinib, a drug already used to treat lung cancer. When Gefitinib was added to Paclitaxel, a standard chemotherapy drug, the treatment proved to be more effective in stopping the regrowth of cancer cells.
Dr. Rajendra Badwe, one of the senior researchers who worked on the study, highlighted the significance of this discovery, saying that attacking this protein weakness could revolutionize the treatment of TNBC. “We found that resistant cancer cells have a special reliance on this protein, which makes them vulnerable to Gefitinib,” he said.
The research also emphasized the importance of finding biomarkers to determine which patients will most likely benefit from this combination therapy. Clinical trials will be the next step to validate its efficacy in a greater population of patients.
If successful, this breakthrough may open up a new line of treatment for TNBC, bringing hope to thousands of patients who now have limited choices. The repurposing of an approved drug such as Gefitinib may also decrease the time and expense of bringing new cancer therapies to market.
This study highlights the potential of investigating drugs already on the market for alternative applications, potentially speeding up the delivery of successful treatments for aggressive cancers. Additional research and trials are set to commence shortly, with the aim that this development will result in improved survival rates and enhanced quality of life for TNBC sufferers.
