Thursday, February 5, 2015

A Way to Outsmart Cancer that is Outsmarting Us?

A recent study at Dartmouth-Hitchcock's Norris Cotton Cancer Center has shown a certain form of breast cancer developing its own resistance to anti-cancer therapies. The ERBB2 gene (also known as HER2) is a human epidermal growth factor receptor that if mutated, leads to different forms of cancer (lung, gastrointestinal, testicular, etc.), but most commonly, the most aggressive forms of breast cancer. 25% of all forms of breast cancer rely on ERBB2 to proliferate and survive. It is currently the focus of 30% of all breast cancer studies due to it being associated with recurrence and poor prognosis.
A pie chart of ERBB2 cancers as described by Gary A. Palmer, MD, JD, MBA MPH at the American Society of Clinical Oncology.

ERBB2 positive breast cancer cells are developing resistance to anti-ERBB2 drugs after one or two rounds of treatment. The researchers at the Norris Cotton Cancer Center have so far showed that ERBB4 (also known as HER4) may be beneficial to breaking through the ERBB2 forms of cancer. Once the ERBB2 positive breast cancers go through treatment, they turn to and rely on ERBB4 for survival. Using the ERBB4 protein, researchers can develop a new line of cancer treatment to perform after the failed rounds of ERBB2 targeted therapy. This new method is called a cancer driver, which includes targeted therapies and less side effects than chemotherapy (yay!!)

We still have a long road ahead of us in cancer research and treatment development, but we have already made great strides. Knowing how things evolve through time, it is no surprise to me that cancer cells are evolving to survive anti-cancer therapies that are still relatively new to human medicine. If this cancer driver really succeeds, it can potentially open several doors to new and effective cancer treatments and maybe one day, a cure.

Original Article: Receptor tyrosine kinase ERBB4 mediates acquired resistance to ERBB2 inhibitors in breast cancer cells

1 comment:

  1. I think that it's really interesting to see how difficult it is to treat cancer, especially when it's thought that breast cancer has a decent amount of evidence for prevention. I think its amazing how quickly genes can mutate. I really hope that they can find a way to get the cancer driver to work!

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