Cancer Research UK scientists have developed a system to identify faulty or missing genes that could prevent specific chemotherapy regimes from working. This opens the doors for targeted breast cancer treatment, according to research published in the Lancet Oncology.
An international team of scientists led by Cancer Research UK’s London Research Institute, together with the Technical University of Denmark, developed a bespoke method to scan 829 genes involved in response to a breast cancer drug, in breast cancer tumour cells. They selected those which, if missing or faulty, would prevent a chemotherapy drug called paclitaxel, from working effectively in patients with breast cancer. Lead author Dr Charles Swanton, head of translational cancer therapeutics at Cancer Research UK’s London Research Institute, said: “A great challenge in cancer medicine is determining which patients will benefit from particular cancer drugs and it is hoped that this research is a step towards more rapid developments in this type of personalised medicine. “Our research shows it is now possible to rapidly pinpoint genes which prevent cancer cells from being destroyed by anti-cancer drugs and use these same genes to predict which patients will benefit from specific types of treatment.”
