Metformin: new agent against TNBC?

The diabetes drug Metformin can effectively reduce breast cancer risk that is associated with insulin resistance and was directly correlated with Ki67 status, according to research in the British Journal of Cancer.  TNBC has shown links to insulin resistance in previous studies, and many TNBC tumors are positive for Ki67, so this could be additional support for considering metformin as a treatment for TNBC.  

This was a phase II study at the European Institute of Oncology (IEO) in Milan, Italy on 100 patients with stage I–IIIa breast cancer who were candidates for elective surgery.

In 2011 laboratory study, Metformin also showed effectiveness against hormone-negative breast cancer.

• Read more about Metformin and TNBC in my book, Surviving Triple-Negative Breast Cancer.

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Family history trumps BRCA2 testing

At least 77 genetic variations are linked to breast cancer risk in women from families with the BRCA mutation. Testing negative for BRCA2 still means these women may have four times the risk of breast cancer than the general population.

PHILADELPHIA — Women who are members of families with BRCA2 mutations but who test negative for the family-specific BRCA2 mutations are still at greater risk for developing breast cancer compared with women in the general population, according to a study published in Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers & Prevention,a journal of the American Association for Cancer Research.

Women with certain mutations in their BRCA1 or BRCA2 genes are at increased risk for breast cancer. However, if a woman who comes from a BRCA family tests negative for her family-specific BRCA mutation, her risk for breast cancer is considered to be the same as someone in the general population, according to the National Cancer Institute. This study, however, suggests that it may not always be true.

“We found that women who test negative for family-specific BRCA2 mutations have more than four times the risk for developing breast cancer than the general population,” said Gareth R. Evans, M.B.B.S., M.D., M.R.C.P., F.R.C.P., honorary professor of medical genetics and cancer epidemiology at the Manchester Academic Health Science Center at the University of Manchester in the United Kingdom. “We also found that any increased risk for breast cancer is largely limited to BRCA2 families with strong family history and other genetic factors.

“It is likely that these women inherit genetic factors other than BRCA-related genes that increase their breast cancer risk,” he explained. “About 77 single nucleotide polymorphisms [SNPs—genetic variations that can help track the inheritance of disease genes within families] are linked to breast cancer risk. Identification of additional SNPs is necessary to understand why some of the BRCA-negative women from BRCA families are at higher risk.”

The authors note that specialists should use caution when stating that a woman’s breast cancer risk is the same as that of the general population following a negative test, because it may not be true for some women who come from BRCA2 families with a strong family history.

Evans and colleagues used data from the M6-Inherited Cancer in England study, which has screened families of individuals with breast and/or ovarian cancer for mutations in BRCA1 and 2 since 1996. Details on affected individuals, and all tested and untested relatives, were entered into a Filemaker Pro-7 database. From 807 BRCA families, the researchers identified 49 women who tested negative for the family-specific BRCA mutation, but subsequently developed breast cancer. The researchers called these women “phenocopies.”

Of the 49 phenocopies identified, 22 were among 279 women who tested negative from BRCA1 families, and 27 were among 251 women who tested negative from BRCA2 families. When the researchers stratified the phenocopies based on their age (30-39, 40-49, 50-59, and 69-80), they found that in each age range there were about twice as many cases of breast cancer as would have been expected from the general population.

Next, to conduct risk analyses, Evans and colleagues calculated the “observed versus expected ratio” (O/E), a ratio of observed risk for breast cancer in BRCA-negative women from BRCA families, versus the risk expected for any woman in the general population.

They found the O/E for phenocopies from BRCA1 families was not substantially higher than that of the general population; however, the O/E for phenocopies from BRCA2 families was 4.57, leading them to conclude that the more than fourfold increased risk for breast cancer among BRCA-negative women is largely limited to BRCA-negative women from BRCA2 families.

When the researchers considered the date of predictive testing (the date on which BRCA testing was done for an individual) instead of the date of family ascertainment (the date the first family member of the individual was referred to genetic service), O/E dropped from 4.57 to 2.01, “because there is less follow-up in the predictive test group from time of testing and we may be unaware of breast cancers that have occurred in the near past,” explained Evans.

This study was funded by the National Institute for Health Research. The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Ganetespib: on the horizon for TNBC?

Ganetespib, a selective inhibitor may be a potent drug for the treatment of triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC), based on the results of  small preclinical studies.   Specifically, ganetespib  effectively regulated several key proteins involved in tumor growth and metastasis, according to results published on-line in the Journal of Molecular Medicine and  in Clinical Cancer Research:

The results demonstrate that inhibition of a wide collection of protein targets, including HIF-1alpha, correlate with potent effects on TNBC tumor cell viability and metastasis when ganetespib is administered alone or when with routinely used chemotherapy drugs for treatment of TNBC, including doxorubicin, paclitaxel, and docetaxel.  Ganetespib is particularly effective against the protein HIF-1alpha, a major regulator of multiple tumor growth properties, including angiogenesis (tumor blood vessel development), metastasis (cancer spread), metabolism, cancer stem cell maintenance, and invasion. 

DCIS Study Does NOT Mean TNBC Recurrence Is More Likely

I am very careful about what I put on this page.  If I think a research report is weak and could cause unnecessary worrying without adding to our knowledge in any meaningful way, I do not share it.    The internet, however, is a wild and wooly place, without gatekeepers and perspective.  So I often hear from readers about a study that "proves" things that are counter to what the broader body of research has told us about triple-negative breast cancer.

One recent study, published in BMC Cancer,  has caused readers to believe that the recurrence of TNBC after five years is greater than that of other forms of breast cancer.  This runs counter to several other studies that have shown the opposite--that TNBC tends to recur within three years if it is going to recur, and that the incidence after five years is significantly lower than for other forms of breast cancer.

Here's the deal.  This new research studied DCIS and found that those cases of DCIS that were TNBC tended to recur after five years at a higher rate than other types of breast cancer.  The researchers, though, warned that only 27 women in the study had TNBC, far too small a sample for any generalization.  In addition,  it does not appear, from the report, that any of the women with DCIS had chemotherapy—the treatments mentioned were surgery and radiation. This is not unusual, as few docs give chemo for DCIS.  So the small group of TNBC women studied did not have the insurance most women now have against TNBC—chemo.  And most research on long-term survival of invasive breast cancer deals with women who have had chemo.  And it shows that chemo often works better for estrogen-negative breast cancer than for estrogen-positive.

A few things this might tell us  (although, again, with such a small sample it is difficult to generalize):  Chemo works.  And DCIS perhaps should be treated more aggressively if it is TNBC.

It does NOT tell us that those of us with TNBC have more cause to worry about long-term recurrence.

• Read more about TNBC in my book, Surviving Triple-Negative Breast Cancer.

• Please consider a donation to Positives About Negative to keep this site going.  This work is entirely supported by readers.  Just click on the Donate button in the right of the page.  Thank you!

Test Determines Who Is at Risk of Lymphedema

Bioelectrical Impedance Analysis (BIA) ratios can effectively assess a woman's risk of lymphedema after breast cancer surgery that includes lymph node removal, according to a study published in the journal Lymphology.  BIAs operate on low frequency electronic current, which cannot travel through cell membranes, therefore providing a direct measure of lymph fluid outside the cells. 

“To lessen breast cancer survivors’ worry about lymphedema development, the BIA may have a role in clinical practice by adding confidence in the detection of arm lymphedema among breast cancer survivors,” says  Mei R. Fu, PhD, RN, ACNS-BC, associate professor of Chronic Disease Management at the New York University College of Nursing and lead researcher in the study.  

The objective of the study was to examine the reliability, sensitivity, and specificity of cross-sectional assessment of BIA in detecting lymphedema in a large metropolitan clinical setting.
Measuring lymphedema is challenging because most methods cannot distinguish bone and soft tissues from extracellular fluid. BIA is time-efficient, easy to operate and easy to interpret, making it ideal for clinical practice. 

Researchers collected data from 250 women, including healthy female adults, breast cancer survivors with lymphedema, and those at risk for lymphedema.

The American Cancer society estimates that in 2013 approximately 232,340 new cases of breast cancer are detected, adding to the already 2.9 million breast cancer survivors, all with a at a lifetime risk of Lymphedema. 

“Giving that all the women who are treated for breast cancer are at a life-time risk for lymphedema, using assessment methods that can accurately identify true lymphedema cases among at-risk breast cancer survivors is of the ultimate importance for clinical practice,” Fu says.   

Lapatinib May Fight TNBC

Lapatinib, which has been approved for use on Her2-positive tumors,  is also effective against triple-negative breast cancer in lab tests on mice, according to research published in Breast Cancer Research November 12, 2013.  Lapatinib  targets EGFR and  and  p65, which are present in both HER2-positive and triple-negative breast cancer cells.  Specifically, it is effective against the NF-κB pathway that scientists believe may be a key regulator of TNBC.  Researchers suggest it should be used in combination with a proteasome inhibitor.  The study also demonstrated that lapatinib worked better than gefitinib and erlotinib, which are  specific EGFR inhibitors. 
  
In previous research, lapatinib, in combination with Herceptin, was effective against TNBC.

• Read more about TNBC in my book, Surviving Triple-Negative Breast Cancer.

• Please consider a donation to Positives About Negative to keep this site going.  This work is entirely supported by readers.  Just click on the Donate button in the right of the page.  Thank you!

Off to SABCS Again

I'll be heading to the San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium (SABCS) again this year, specifically to keep my eye on triple-negative breast cancer research.  I will once more do a recap of TNBC research, and I hope I have lots of information and positive news, as I did in 2012.   I am looking forward to a few specific sessions and events:

• A general session on JAK 2 amplifications in TNBC.  I wrote about previous research last year.
• Incidence and survival rates for different subgroups of breast cancer.
• Updates on new chemo drugs, especially platinum agents that have shown mixed success with metastatic TNBC.
• Connecting with other groups, including After Breast Cancer Diagnosis; I wrote a brief about them in 2012.   And the Metastatic Breast Cancer Network.  Last year I wrote about Ginny Knackmuh, who was diagnosed with metastatic TNBC in 2009.  I hope to meet her again this year.
• Meeting new and old friends.  I will again visit with Carol, a blog reader from Texas and now TNBC buddy.  I wrote about her last year.  Sadly, the other friend I wrote about in that essay was Lori Redmer, former executive director of the Triple Negative Breast Cancer Foundation, who died in August, leaving behind a beautiful family and an impressive legacy.  I met her in person only once, but we talked on the phone and emailed regularly.  I have not yet moved her emails from my inbox.  This year, I will finally meet the wonderful woman who mentored me through the final edits of my book and wrote my foreword, Carol Scott-Conner.  Oddly, she and I live in the same state but have never met.  Carol was diagnosed with breast cancer last year herself and has used her experience to help serve women even better.
• Hobnobbing with the docs again.

Thanks, as always, for your support.  I do this all on my own dime and time, so your donations really do help. Just click the donate button on the top right hand side of the blog, and you'll get to a secure Paypal site.  Hugs.

Test May Determine Which Cases of TNBC are Likely to Metastasize

As many as two-thirds of those who get adjuvant chemotherapy (after surgery) for triple-negative breast cancer probably do not need it, according to researchers writing in Breast Cancer Research, published online October 31, 2013.  Yet, chemo remains the most effective way to keep the disease from metastasizing, so it becomes a pricey (in our pocketbooks and our bodies) insurance against recurrence.  And it is insurance we pay because the alternative is terrifying.

Wouldn't it be great to have a test that determines which cases of TNBC are likely to metastasize and which have a pretty rosy prognosis even without chemo?  There could be.  Scientists suggest an Integrated Cytokine Score (ICS), containing three IR-7 genes (TNFRSF17, HLA-F, XCL2) and two Buck-4 genes (CXCL13, CLIC5).  The presence of these genes suggest cases that are likely to spread.  Read the entire research article here.

• Read more about TNBC in my book, Surviving Triple-Negative Breast Cancer.

• Please consider a donation to Positives About Negative to keep this site going.  This work is entirely supported by readers.  Just click on the Donate button in the right of the page.  Thank you!

Researcher to focus on Numb and Set8 proteins in search of targeted TNBC therapy

From a New Release from Western University in Ontario, Canada

They represent less than 15 per cent of women diagnosed with breast cancer. But for Dr. Shawn Li, continuing a search for solutions in this rarely diagnosed area of breast cancer has become his main mission.

Thanks to a $200,000 (over two years) Innovation Grant from the Canadian Cancer Society, the Western Biochemistry professor hopes to find ways to overcome chemotherapy resistance in women with triple-negative breast cancer.

Li was one of 37 researchers across Canada to share in $7 million in Innovation Grants, supporting creative problem-solving in cancer research.

With this continued support of the Canadian Cancer Society, who has given Li’s research $2.4 million since 2001, Li will be studying the biochemical reaction that plays a critical role in the death of triple-negative breast cancer cells, and is also involved in chemotherapy resistance.

His new project will study how two proteins – Numb and Set8 – interact in this reaction and look for compounds that could serve as the first targeted treatments for triple-negative breast cancer.

Li’s previous work showed the Numb protein plays an important role in cancer cell death. However, the Set8 protein interferes with this process and leads to chemotherapy resistance. Li and his team will study the Set8 protein and how it interferes with cancer cell death and, more important, screen thousands of drugs to look for those that prevent Set8 from interfering with cancer cell death, which could lead to better outcomes for women with triple-negative breast cancer.

• Read more about TNBC in my book, Surviving Triple-Negative Breast Cancer.

• Please consider a donation to Positives About Negative to keep this site going.  This work is entirely supported by readers.  Just click on the Donate button in the right of the page.  Thank you!

Remember

• Read more about TNBC in my book, Surviving Triple-Negative Breast Cancer.

• Please consider a donation to Positives About Negative to keep this site going.  This work is entirely supported by readers.  Just click on the Donate button in the right of the page.  Thank you!

ENMD-2076 May Target TNBC mutations

The kinase inhibitor ENMD-2076 may effectively target the p53 family of tumor suppressors, which have been connected to triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC), according to results of a phase II clinical study. Data demonstrate that ENMD-2076 exhibited "robust anticancer activity" against both p53 and p73 mutations, said chief researcher  Jennifer R. Diamond. M.D., of the University of Colorado.  Research is being conducted by the drug company EntreMed in patients with TNBC and advanced/metastatic soft tissue sarcoma.   The next step, before the drug could be generally available,  would be a phase III clinical trial.

• Read more about TNBC in my book, Surviving Triple-Negative Breast Cancer.

• Please consider a donation to Positives About Negative to keep this site going.  This work is entirely supported by readers.  Just click on the Donate button in the right of the page.  Thank you!

Stop worrying about tomorrow.  Celebrate today.

Survey shows women more aware of celebrity decision than their own breast cancer treatment options

NEW YORK – October 17, 2013 —  A survey commissioned by The BC5 Project, a group focused on broadening awareness of breast cancer treatment options, suggests that famous personalities may be impacting important medical decisions. The findings also point out that some women are opting for treatments without full knowledge of all the therapies available to them.

According to a national survey of 100 women aged 50+ who have been diagnosed with breast cancer, more than half of the women surveyed believed that actor Angelina Jolie’s decision to have a double mastectomy will make other women more comfortable choosing to do the same. 

“This is a worrisome statistic for a number of reasons, most obviously its suggestion that many women are willing to make a life-changing decision they may not fully understand based on a situation that’s not their own,” said Dr. Cathryn Yashar,Associate Professor of Radiation Oncology, the University of California San Diego and part of The BC5 Project. 

“Also of concern is data from a recent Harvard/Dana Farber study which shows the growing number of women who are inclined to have their breasts surgically removed as an alternative to the equally effective breast conserving surgery,” Dr. Yashar added. “It begs the question of whether or not women are fully aware of all their options.”

Results from The BC5 Project survey suggest this, reporting that one-third of women surveyed were only presented with one treatment option from their doctor, and only 27 percent sought a second opinion on their diagnosis or treatment.  When asked specifically about Breast Brachytherapy, for example, a five-day radiation therapy also known as APBI, less than one in 10 women even knew the option existed.  A full three-quarters of women who would have been candidates for the treatment report that they would have been interested in the therapy.

“This is just one example of how the lack of knowledge about options is affecting women and their treatment choices,” said Yashar.  “As physicians, we should strive to take on a more active role becoming aware of all the options ourselves, so we can better educated women and close this knowledge gap.”

Restorative Yoga Can Help Trim Fat

PLAINSBORO, N.J. – Yoga’s health benefits may go beyond stress reduction – a study funded by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) found that for overweight women, restorative yoga may offer a way to actually trim subcutaneous fat.

The benefits of restorative yoga – a form of the practice that emphasizes relaxation over flowing movements or challenging balance poses – compared favorably with simple stretching when tested among a group of women who were clinically obese.

The study’s lead author, Maria G. Araneta, PhD, MPH, of the University of California, San Diego, said researchers examined whether women could lose fat from less intense exercise than aerobic activity. Patients with a BMI of 30 or more, which the Centers of Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) defines as obese, may have a hard time starting an exercise program, despite their obvious need for physical activity.

Araneta presented results at the 73rd Scientific Sessions of the American Diabetes Association in Chicago, according the quarterly edition of Evidence-Based Diabetes Management, a supplement to The American Journal of Managed Care.

Smaller studies had shown other health benefits from yoga to persons at risk of diabetes, but Araneta said no study had specifically measured a loss of fat. A 48-week study comparing two groups, one taking restorative yoga and one performing stretching exercises found that the yoga practitioners lost significantly more subcutaneous fat over the initial six months, and kept losing it afterward. There was no significant loss of visceral fat in either group. Of note:

• Weight: Both groups lost weight, with the restorative yoga group losing more, an average of 1.3 kg at six months compared with 0.7 kg for the stretch group. Significantly, the yoga group maintained the reduction.
• Fat: The restorative yoga group lost more than 2.5 times the amount of subcutaneous fat as the stretch group, and kept losing fat between the six-month mark and the 48-week mark. After six months, the stretch group reversed its progress, regaining almost half its lost fat.

While stretching and body alignment are involved, restorative poses are often performed in a reclined or seated position, with limbs and parts of the torso supported by blankets, pillows, or padded bolsters that resemble a sofa cushion. Poses are held much longer than in other styles of yoga, often as long as 7 minutes. Measured breathing is emphasized, and many commercial classes feature meditative music.

One explanation for the difference may be that restorative yoga reduces levels of cortisol, which rises during times of stress and is known to increase abdominal fat. Araneta told Evidence-Based Diabetes Management that results on cortisol will be released later in 2013.

To read the full article visit the American Journal of Managed Care.

TNBC found later in younger women, leading to poorer prognosis

Adolescent and young adult women with triple-negative breast cancer are nearly three times as likely to die of the disease than those with other forms of breast cancer, according to research published in the journal Breast Cancer Research.  Overall, these women faced a 44 percent higher risk of death from breast cancer of all types than older women. One reason, researchers say:  Lack of screening before age of 40, which leads to tumors being diagnosed at a higher stage when they are less treatable.

But, the difference was largely confined to short-term survival.  Long-term survival rates for these women were similar to those for older women.  This is because TNBC usually recurs quickly, with cases spiking in the first three years and dropping significantly after that.

The women in the study were breast cancer patients who were 15 to 39 at diagnosis.  Roughly 20 percent of those were triple-negative. Those living in poor neighborhoods, with pubic insurance, and who were African-American fared worst.   

The takeaway:  Make sure the young women in your life get tested, pay attention to their bodies, and take symptoms very seriously.  Early treatment is essential.

• Read more about TNBC in my book, Surviving Triple-Negative Breast Cancer.

• Please consider a donation to Positives About Negative to keep this site going.  This work is entirely supported by readers.  Just click on the Donate button in the right of the page.  Thank you!

Does Lactation Not Protect Women of Mexican Descent? More Research Needed

Scientific data suggest that a woman reduces her risk of breast cancer by breastfeeding, having multiple children and giving birth at a younger age. A study led by the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine and recently published online by Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers & Prevention, indicates that women of Mexican descent may not fit that profile. In fact, results suggest that women of Mexican descent with more children and those who breastfeed are more likely to be diagnosed with triple-negative breast cancer.

The average age when women in the study gave birth to a first child was 23 years old. These women had an average of two to three children and were likely to breastfeed for long periods of time. Based on existing research, primarily based on non-Hispanic white women, this reproductive pattern would be classified as low risk. Yet all of the women in the study developed breast cancer, says Martínez.

The study enrolled breast cancer patients, 18 years old and older, at the University of Arizona Cancer Center, the University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center and three sites in Mexico – the Universidad de Sonora, the Instituto Tecnológico de Sonora and the Universidad de Guadalajara.

The study showed that patients of Mexican descent who breastfed for 12 months or more were more than twice as likely to have triple negative breast cancer. They were younger at diagnosis and younger during their first full-term pregnancy. Patients who had three or more children were also more likely to have triple negative breast cancer. Martinez said that it is important to note that prior studies, mainly in non-Hispanic white women, have shown that these reproductive characteristics reduce the risk of breast cancer overall, possibly due to effects on the more common, better prognosis, of luminal A cancers.

The most important takeaway from this report is that the scientific community needs to do further research into populations with unique risk-factor patterns that might benefit from different screening or prevention approaches. The observations made in this study need to be replicated in populations with similar reproductive profiles to determine if the results are due to common biologic factors or specific genetic or environmental factors.

[Taken from a news release from the University of California Health System.  Edited to eliminate unnecessary references to TNBC as automatically aggressive.]

• Read more about TNBC in my book, Surviving Triple-Negative Breast Cancer.

• Please consider a donation to Positives About Negative to keep this site going.  This work is entirely supported by readers.  Just click on the Donate button in the right of the page.  Thank you!

New Imaging Technique Can Determine Cancer Subtype and Response to Treatment

PHILADELPHIA — An optical imaging technique that measures metabolic activity in cancer cells can accurately differentiate breast cancer subtypes, and it can detect responses to treatment as early as two days after therapy administration, according to a study published in Cancer Research, a journal of the American Association for Cancer Research.

“The process of targeted drug development requires assays that measure drug target engagement and predict the response (or lack thereof) to treatment,” said Alex Walsh, a graduate student in the Department of Biomedical Engineering at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tenn. “We have shown that optical metabolic imaging (OMI) enables fast, sensitive, and accurate measurement of drug action. Importantly, OMI measurements can be made repeatedly over time in a live animal, which significantly reduces the cost of these preclinical studies.”

Human cells undergo extensive chemical reactions called metabolic activity to produce energy, and this activity is altered in cancer cells. When cancer cells are treated with anticancer drugs, their metabolic activity changes. OMI takes advantage of the fact that two molecules involved in cellular metabolism, called nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (NADH) and flavin adenine dinucleotide (FAD), naturally emit fluorescence when exposed to certain forms of light. In this way, OMI generates distinct signatures for cancer cells with a different metabolism and their responses to drugs.

Walsh and colleagues used a custom-built, multiphoton microscope and coupled it with a titanium-sapphire laser that causes NADH and FAD to emit fluorescence. They used specific filters to isolate the fluorescence emitted by these two molecules, and measured the ratio of the two as “redox ratio.”

When they placed normal and cancerous breast cells under the microscope, OMI generated distinct signals for the two types of cells. OMI could also differentiate between estrogen receptor-positive, estrogen receptor-negative, HER2-positive, and HER2-negative breast cancer cells. 

Next, the researchers tested the effect of the anti-HER2 antibody trastuzumab on three breast cancer cell lines that respond differently to the antibody. They found that the redox ratios were significantly reduced in drug-sensitive cells after trastuzumab treatment but unaffected in the resistant cells.

They then grew human breast tumors in mice and treated some of these with trastuzumab. When they imaged tumors in live mice, OMI showed a difference in response between trastuzumab-sensitive and -resistant tumors as early as two days after the first dose of the antibody. In comparison, FDG-PET imaging, the standard clinical metabolic imaging technique, could not measure any difference in response between trastuzumab-sensitive and -resistant tumors at any time point in the experiment, which lasted 12 days.

 “Cancer drugs have profound effects on cellular energy production, and this can be harnessed by OMI to identify responding cells from nonresponding cells,” said Walsh. “We are hoping to develop a high-throughput screening method to predict the optimal drug treatment for a particular patient.”

Importantly, OMI can be used on tissues freshly excised from patients but, with further development, it could be incorporated in endoscopes for live imaging of human cancers, according to the investigators.

News release from the American Association of Cancer Research

• Read more about TNBC in my book, Surviving Triple-Negative Breast Cancer.

• Please consider a donation to Positives About Negative to keep this site going.  This work is entirely supported by readers.  Just click on the Donate button in the right of the page.  Thank you!

I am thankful for all the beauty in my life


Photo by Pat
White Oaks Lake, New Hampshire

Sulfasalazine could be used to fight TNBC

Triple-negative breast cancer tumors are especially dependent on cystine, one of the 20 amino acids that are the building blocks of proteins that all cells need, and could be effectively treated with a drug already approved by the FDA, according to a study published online October 3, 2013 in the journal Cancer Cell.

Lead researcher Luika Timmerman, PhD, an investigator in the University of California San Francisco,  found that she could significantly slow growth of TNBC tumors using an anti-inflammatory drug called sulfasalazine to block a specific cystine transporter. While sulfasalazine itself would not be appropriate for treating cancer, Timmerman said, it could serve as a "lead compound" that could be used to develop drugs that specifically target TNBC cells.

"This study of human tumors in mice and of breast cancer cell lines demonstrates the potential of targeting not only this cystine transporter, but also other metabolic abnormalities in cancer," she said.

[Based on a news release from the University of California at San Francisco.]

• Read more about TNBC in my book, Surviving Triple-Negative Breast Cancer.

• Please consider a donation to Positives About Negative to keep this site going.  This work is entirely supported by readers.  Just click on the Donate button in the right of the page.  Thank you!