(Ivanhoe Newswire) -- Researchers discovered a single gene that may be
responsible for both the spread of breast cancer and the tendency of some tumors
to resist the chemotherapy drugs designed to kill cancer cells.
The authors note other studies have looked at genes involved in hard-to-treat
breast cancer, but this is the first to pinpoint the MTDH gene as a culprit. The
gene thwarts chemotherapy by promoting the survival of cancer cells. It causes
cancer to spread by binding cancer cells to blood vessels in other parts of the
body, such as the lung, bone, liver and brain.
The investigators identified the gene by using a formula aimed at identifying
changes in a large number of tumor samples. Results showed excessive numbers of
the chromosomal region where the gene resides in more than 30 percent of the
samples, and patients with this type of cancer were more likely to have shorter
survival times due to cancers that either spread or came back.
Now that the gene has been identified, the researchers are hopeful it will lead
to new and better ways to treat the toughest cases of breast cancer.
"These findings establish MTDH as an important therapeutic target for
simultaneously enhancing chemotherapy efficacy and reducing metastasis risk,"
study author Dr. Yibin Kang, from the department of molecular biology at
Princeton University, was quoted as saying. "Molecular targeting of MTDH may not
only prevent the seeding of breast cancer cells to the lung and other vital
organs, but also sensitize tumor cells to chemotherapy, thereby stopping the
deadly spread of breast cancer."
SOURCE: Cancer Cell, published online January 5, 2009
