Treatment to target inherited breast cancers
Therapy would be less toxic than chemo, researchers say
LONDON - British scientists said on Wednesday they have identified a potential new treatment for patients with certain types of hereditary breast cancer.
Women with mutations in the BRCA1 and BRCA2 genes have an 85 percent risk of developing the disease by the time they reach the age of 70.
But researchers funded by the charities Cancer Research UK and Breakthrough Breast Cancer said a new drug known as a PARP inhibitor takes a new approach to killing cancerous cells.
“It could be a much more effective and less toxic replacement for chemotherapy,” said Professor Alan Ashworth, of the Institute of Cancer Research in London.
“This is a brand new therapeutic approach, centered on exploiting a specific deficiency in breast cancer cells -- in their Achilles’ heel.”
Unlike standard chemotherapy drugs that kill both healthy and cancerous cells, the new treatment being developed by the British company KuDOS Pharmaceuticals, a spin-off firm of Cancer Research UK, only targets cancer cells.
Mutations in the BRCA1 and BRCA2 genes damage a DNA repair mechanism and allow tumors to grow. The new therapy is aimed at cells where the DNA repair mechanism is missing.
路透社4月13日报道，英国科学家研究出一种治疗遗传性乳腺癌的新方法。研究发现，BRCA1和BRCA2基因突变的女性，超过70岁之后患遗传性乳腺癌的机率为85%。该研究项目得到了英国癌病研究组织和一个治疗乳腺癌的慈善组织（Breakthrough Breast ncer）这两个机构的资助，研究人员指出一种称为PARP的抑制剂能有效杀死癌细胞。
英国癌症研究所教授阿兰·阿斯沃兹指出：“这项崭新的治疗方法围绕的核心是发掘乳腺癌细胞自身所存在的某些缺陷，与化学疗法相比更为有效，副作用也更少。”
传统的化学治疗药物会同时杀死癌细胞和健康细胞，而由英国KuDOS医药品公司（英国癌病研究组织下属公司）开发的这种新治疗方法只针对癌细胞。
BRCA1和BRCA2基因的突变会损害DNA修复机制，使得瘤不断长大。新疗法主要针对被DNA修复机制所忽略的细胞。
在发表于《自然》杂志上的两篇研究论文中，阿斯沃兹及其研究小组、英国谢菲尔德大学的托马斯·赫里多指出，PARP抑制剂在减缓实验鼠体内BRCA2基因突变的同时，对老鼠本身没有任何副作用。 他们相信，约1-2%的由BRCA基因突变引起乳腺癌的人，能用同样的方法来治疗。
阿斯沃兹说：“在接下来的几个月里，我们将开始第一阶段的试验。如果一切顺利的话，在5年内我们将研制出相应的药品。”
