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日報道,，英國科學家研究出一種治療遺傳性乳腺癌的新方法。研究發(fā)現(xiàn),，BRCA1和BRCA2基因突變的女性,，超過70歲之后患遺傳性乳腺癌的機率為85%。該研究項目得到了英國癌病研究組織和一個治療乳腺癌的慈善組織（Breakthrough Breast ncer）這兩個機構的資助,，研究人員指出一種稱為PARP的抑制劑能有效殺死癌細胞,。
英國癌癥研究所教授阿蘭·阿斯沃茲指出：“這項嶄新的治療方法圍繞的核心是發(fā)掘乳腺癌細胞自身所存在的某些缺陷，與化學療法相比更為有效,，副作用也更少,。”
傳統(tǒng)的化學治療藥物會同時殺死癌細胞和健康細胞，而由英國KuDOS醫(yī)藥品公司（英國癌病研究組織下屬公司）開發(fā)的這種新治療方法只針對癌細胞,?！ ?/p>
BRCA1和BRCA2基因的突變會損害DNA修復機制，使得瘤不斷長大,。新療法主要針對被DNA修復機制所忽略的細胞,。
在發(fā)表于《自然》雜志上的兩篇研究論文中，阿斯沃茲及其研究小組,、英國謝菲爾德大學的托馬斯·赫里多指出,，PARP抑制劑在減緩實驗鼠體內BRCA2基因突變的同時，對老鼠本身沒有任何副作用,。 他們相信,，約1-2%的由BRCA基因突變引起乳腺癌的人，能用同樣的方法來治療,。
阿斯沃茲說：“在接下來的幾個月里,，我們將開始第一階段的試驗。如果一切順利的話,，在5年內我們將研制出相應的藥品,。”
