The most aggressive type of breast cancer, triple negative
breast cancer, occurs when the estrogen, progesterone, and the HER-2/neu gene receptors are not present in the cancerous
tumor. Most breast cancer growth is accelerated by the receptors aforementioned.
As a result, treatments such as hormone therapy or using drugs that target
these receptors do not work. However, chemotherapy is still a viable option for
treating the cancer. It is even thought that chemotherapy treats the earliest
stages of triple negative breast cancer better than it treats other forms of
cancer.
The study, which was conducted using data from the United
States Cancer Genome and the Molecular Taxonomy of Breast Cancer International
Symposium from the UK and Canada, used 3,057 breast cancer cases to observe the
levels of expression of beclin 1 and BRCA1. BRCA1 is a gene that is linked
with the inheritance of breast cancer. The Cancer Genome provided 1,067 cases
to study, while the Molecular Taxonomy of Breast Cancer International Symposium
gave 1,992 cases.
It was already known the beclin 1 and BRCA1 genes were
missing from approximately 35% of all breast cancers, but it needed to be
discovered which of the two genes was important. This was done by looking at
the expression and seeing how that related to the clinical features of breast
cancer. Low levels of beclin 1 expression, but not BRCA1 correlated to adverse
clinical features. Breast cancer patients with low beclin 1 activity had a 67%
increase in the risk of dying of breast cancer as opposed to cancer patients
with higher activity levels of beclin 1. It was also shown that low levels of
beclin 1 activity corresponded to a 35-fold higher risk of developing triple
negative breast cancer in the first place.
As a result of this research, therapies that increase beclin
1 activity have been suggested as new treatments for triple negative breast
cancer. There are already a few drugs that increase beclin 1 activity being
used to treat other cancers. The drugs approved to treat these cancers are
divided into four classes, which are inhibitors of either beclin 1/BCL-2
binding, protein kinase B (AKT), epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR), or
HER2. Further studies need to be completed in order to determine if these
therapies will be a viable treatment for those with triple negative breast
cancer.
I have never heard of triple negative breast cancer and had
no idea it was the most aggressive type of breast cancer. I really only thought
that there was one type of breast cancer. Now that I know more about this form
of breast cancer I think that it is awesome that they have possibly found
another route to treat it seeing as how it does not respond to hormone therapy.
If drugs increasing beclin 1 activity could treat the cancer it would most
likely save more lives and save people the misery of going through
chemotherapy. This could offer a more comfortable treatment option that is not
so hazardous on the body as well. All in all it seems like this could
potentially be something very promising. Only the future will tell if it will
actually work.
Link to Article: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2015/01/150130132817.htm
Additional Links: http://www.nationalbreastcancer.org/triple-negative-breast-cancer
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