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Popular diabetes drug may help fight breast cancer

September 15, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

Washington, Sept 15 (ANI): A popular diabetes drug called metformin has been found to be effective in fighting breast cancer.

The findings of the study from Harvard Medical School showed that metformin, along with conventional chemotherapy, shows promise for treating and delaying recurrence of breast cancer.

“We have found a compound selective for cancer stem cells,” said senior author Kevin Struhl, the David Wesley Gaiser professor of biological chemistry and molecular pharmacology at HMS.

“What’s different is that ours is a first-line diabetes drug,” he added.

The drug seemed to work independently of its ability to improve insulin sensitivity and lower blood sugar and insulin levels, all of which are also associated with better breast cancer outcomes.

“There is a big desire to find drugs specific to cancer stem cells,” said Struhl.

“The cancer stem cell hypothesis says you cannot cure cancer unless you also get rid of the cancer stem cells. From a purely practical point of view, this could be tested in humans. It’s already used as a first-line diabetes drug,” he added.

Lead researchers Heather Hirsch and Dimitrios Iliopoulos found that the combination of metformin and the cancer drug doxorubicin killed human cancer stem cells and non-stem cancer cells in culture.

In mice, pre-treatment with the diabetes drug prevented the otherwise dramatic ability of human breast cancer stem cells to form tumours.

In cases where tumours were allowed to take hold for 10 days, the dual therapy also reduced tumour mass more quickly and prevented relapse for longer than doxorubicin alone.

“This is an exciting study,” said Jennifer Ligibel, a medical oncologist at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and an HMS instructor in medicine, who was not involved in the study.

“There is a lot of interest in studying metformin in breast cancer, but so far we do not have direct evidence that metformin will improve outcomes in patients,” Ligibel said. “That’s what this trial is for.”

The findings appear online in the journal Cancer Research. (ANI)

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Why some women develop breast cancer earlier than others

July 15, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

Washington, July 15 (ANI): Researchers at New Jersey’s only NCI-designated Comprehensive Cancer Center have taken a step towards unlocking the mysteries of why some women develop breast cancer at an earlier age than others.

The researchers have expanded a study to identify genetic markers in women with the disease, and their trial will now include more healthy volunteers as well.

According to state health statistics, roughly 13 percent of women diagnosed with breast cancer in New Jersey are younger than age 45, while nearly half of the women diagnosed with the disease and seen at CINJ are not yet 50.

And now, the investigators are hoping to shed light on these figures through an ongoing clinical trial whose goal is to identify genetic markers for the disease.

By including larger numbers of healthy women in the study, the researchers could pinpoint genetic differences between women who develop breast cancer and those who don’t.

Researchers led CINJ medical oncologist Dr. Kim M. Hirshfield recently discovered that some genes might be associated with increased risk of developing breast cancer, while others may actually protect against the development of the disease.

These same gene variations may also play a role in breast cancer outcomes.

“If we are able to identify these slight variations, we can learn more about how breast cancer develops and its outcomes. This information could one day lead to more tailored treatment for those with the disease and perhaps even better prevention methods and screening recommendations,” said Hirshfield.

She noted that the majority of women diagnosed with breast cancer have no known risk factors, and that only five to ten percent of breast cancers are actually caused by changes or mutations in known breast cancer genes.

Study participants will have blood drawn for laboratory analysis. The sample will be used to obtain blood cells as well as DNA. Facts about one’s breast health and overall medical history will be documented.

Both the blood sample and the clinical information will be analyzed and saved for possible future use.

Investigators are looking for more than 3,000 participants to complete the study.

Women and men aged 18 or older with no history of breast cancer, with a diagnosis of breast cancer, or a breast abnormality indicating increased risk for development of breast cancer are eligible to take part in the trial, although other criteria must be met. (ANI)

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Magic bullet drug raises hope for breast cancer sufferers

May 29, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

London, May 29 (ANI): Scientists have created a drug that launches a two-pronged attack on the most advanced form of aggressive breast cancer.

The combo of the wonder drug Herceptin with another used in chemotherapy could provide extra months to live to thousands of women, reports The Daily Express.

Thanks to the drug, 35 percent of women with incurable HER2-positive breast cancer – an aggressive form – saw their tumour shrink or the disease stabilise for at least six months.

The dual-hit, which acts like a Trojan horse, not only takes Herceptin’s antibody treatment directly into cancer cells, targeting the HER2 genes that cause growth, but the chemotherapy attacks the cells.

In final results from a trial of the combined drug, trastuzumab-DM1, on 112 women, a quarter saw their tumour shrink by at least 30 per cent.

Principal UK investigator, Dr David Miles, medical oncologist at Mount Vernon Hospital, in Northwood, Middlesex, said: “To see such efficacy with one treatment is unusual.” (ANI)

Filed Under: Science News Tagged With: Antibody Treatment, breast cancer, breast cancer sufferers, cancer cells, chemo therapy, chemotherapy, dm1, dr david, efficacy, her2 genes, her2 positive breast cancer, Herceptin, Magic Bullet, Medical Oncologist, Middlesex, mount vernon hospital, northwood, Pronged Attack, trojan horse, tumour

Triple drug therapy shows promise in treating breast cancer

May 16, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

Washington, May 16 (ANI): Mayo researchers have suggested a triple drug therapy that may offer a promising new option for breast cancer.

They said that combining two chemotherapy drugs with trastuzumab (Herceptin) to treat women who have metastatic HER2+ breast cancer might offer physicians another choice in their treatment options.

“This is a very well tolerated regimen. The combination is a good example of an excellent therapeutic ratio: good activity and low toxicity,” said study’s senior investigator, Dr Edith Perez, director of Mayo Clinic’s Breast Center in Jacksonville.
Dr Winston Tan, a medical oncologist at Mayo Clinic said that the chemotherapy regimen was previously tested in Europe and demonstrated good anti-tumour activity and low toxicity, so Mayo researchers combined it with Herceptin.

They found that 67pct of the 45 patients responded to treatment, with their tumours decreasing in size by at least 30 percent.

“The results are encouraging, and would support a larger, randomized Phase III study,” he said.

“This is a Phase II study of this triple combination, so we would need to study this treatment against the standard best two-drug treatment in a randomized Phase III study to know if this triplet is more effective.

“This regimen seems to be a very reasonable choice, and it offers the added advantage that women who use it do not lose their hair,” he says. The drug combination used most commonly for patients with HER2+ breast cancer that has spread – paclitaxel or docetaxel with trastuzumab – always causes hair loss,” he added.

The study was presented at the 45th Annual Meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO). (ANI)

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Nerve pain pill found effective in treating hot flashes

May 16, 2009 By admin 1 Comment

Washington, May 16 (ANI): A pill used to treat nerve pain has been found effective in treating hot flashes in women, claim Mayo Clinic researchers.

They have found that pregabalin decreased hot flash severity and frequency about 20 percent more than did a placebo.

Pregabalin has been found to offer about the same benefit as gabapentin, an older, related drug, as well as newer classes of antidepressants.

“Hot flashes are a major problem in many women, and for those who opt not to take hormonal therapies or antidepressants, pregabalin appears to be another treatment option,” said the study’s lead author, Charles Loprinzi, M.D., a medical oncologist at the Mayo Clinic in Minnesota.

Women who use pregabalin only need to take two pills a day, versus three for gabapentin, he added.

Gabapentin and a variety of antidepressants are commonly prescribed for treatment of hot flashes and pregabalin is a newer version of gabapentin.

Dr. Loprinzi and colleagues set up a 207-participant study conducted by the North Central Cancer Treatment Group (NCCTG). Patients getting pregabalin started off with lower doses which were increased weekly to the eventual full dose.

The researchers found that for the 163 patients both doses of pregabalin reduced hot flashes to about the same degree, but that toxicities, such as cognitive dysfunction, were increased at the higher dose.

After six weeks of treatment, women receiving pregabalin showed 65 percent decrease in hot flashes compared to 50 percent decrease in those receiving placebo.

“All in all, this study demonstrates that we have another agent to add to the list of medications that offer benefit against hot flashes, even in women using anti-estrogen therapies,” said Dr. Loprinzi .

The findings were presented at the 45th Annual Meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO). (ANI)

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Popular diabetes drug may help fight breast cancer

Why some women develop breast cancer earlier than others

Magic bullet drug raises hope for breast cancer sufferers

Triple drug therapy shows promise in treating breast cancer

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