New Drug Showing Promise In Breast, Lung Cancer Prevention

Researchers are testing a new drug which has positive implications for victims of breast and lung cancer.

The drug is being tested for obesity-related cancers and breast and lung cancer treatment.

This is according to findings published in the journal Cancer Prevention by researchers from Michigan State University in East Lansing in the United States are using novel molecular routes to attack cancer genes.

The scientists were particularly interested in bromodomain inhibitors (BET inhibitors) which showed signs of significantly delaying the development of breast and lung cancers.

BET inhibitors do this by preventing the expression of certain growth-promoting genes by interacting with a cancerous gene called c-Myc.

“I-BET-762 works by targeting DNA so that this gene can’t be expressed,” said Karen Liby, Associate Professor at the Michigan State University.

“It does this by inhibiting a number of important proteins — both in cancer and immune cells — ultimately reducing the amount of cancer cells in mice by 80 percent,” Liby added.

In cancer cells, pSTAT3, a protein, is typically overproduced, effectively shielding the cancer cells and allowing the tumour to continue to grow.

In Prof. Liby’s initial study, they reduced levels of pSTAT3 by 50 percent in both immune and cancer cells.

In another study, Jamie Bernard — an assistant professor of pharmacology and toxicology — tried a similar approach but used precancerous cells. The focus, this time, was on obesity-related cancers.

He found that more than 50 percent of these cells were prevented from being cancerous.

Obesity is a risk factor for a range of cancers.

“Almost half a million of all new cancers have been linked to obesity. There is evidence that visceral fat and high-fat diets can increase cancer risk; and while current cancer treatments have helped to lower cancer mortality, the number of obesity-associated cancers continues to climb,” said Prof. Jamie Bernard.

Prof. Bernard explained the premise of his study, saying, “We looked directly at the effect I-BET-762 had on human cells that could become tumorigenic but weren’t quite yet.” And the results were encouraging.

“We found,” he concluded, “that the drug prevented more than 50 percent of these cells from becoming cancerous.

The team hopes that, by understanding specific targets, better prevention methods can be put in place for populations at high risk of developing certain cancers.

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