In search of ever better treatments for breast cancer, medical researchers from the Univ. from Illinois have synthesized a remarkable substance.
In small tumors, a single dose of ErSO-TFPy completely eliminated them, while the same dose significantly reduced large tumors. In mice and rats, no harmful side effects were observed.
Limited to estrogen receptor-positive (ER+) breast cancer, the compound addresses many common concerns with existing treatments that involve choking off the supply of estrogen that tumors depend on.
“It is very rare for a compound to shrink tumors in mouse models of breast cancer, let alone completely eradicate these tumors with a single dose. So we look forward to ErSO-TFPy making progress in the treatment of breast cancer .” said Paul Hergenrother Ph.D., lead author of the paper describing the treatment and a decorated biochemist at the University of Illinois.
ER+ breast cancer is the most common form of cancer in the United States. At the current rate, 13.1% of women will develop breast cancer during their lifetime, accounting for 15% of all cancer diagnoses in the United States.
Treatment for ER+ breast cancer will usually consist of surgery to remove the tumors, followed by hormone therapy to starve out whatever remains. Effective treatments like these have increased the 5-year relative survival rate among breast cancer patients in the United States to well above 90%, but several unwanted side effects tend to occur. follow.
Reduced estrogen frequently leads to blood clots, sexual dysfunction and osteoporosis. Additionally, hormone therapy does nothing to prevent tumor recurrence or resistance, leading cancer researchers like Hergenrother to seek additional options.
New search published Wednesday in the journal ACS Science demonstrates how ErSO-TFPy, a spin-off of the previously developed ErSO treatment dose, achieved complete regression of smaller tumors in mice without any of these side effects.
The effect was robust and independent of tumor size, with eradication of even very large tumors (500 to 1,500 mm3) observed in the paper. Mechanistically, write the authors, these tumor regressions are a consequence of the rapid induction of necrotic cell death in the tumor and, even more positively, they are independent of immune cells.
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The study also involved the administration of transplanted human breast cancer tumors into mice, in which the same rate and degree of regression was observed, suggesting that the drug will also work in humans.
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