Estrogen Positive Breast Cancer Patients May Have Another Option

Written By Representatives from The Breast Health and Healing Foundation

Estrogen positive breast cancer plagues the majority of women who have been diagnosed with this disease. As much as 70 percent of breast cancer patients are diagnosed with this type of cancer. Estrogen positive breast cancer often recurs in women within 15 years of remission and may lead to fatality. However, the Science Daily reported that new research from Australia could lead the way in effectively treating these tumors with chemotherapy drugs.

Oncology experts from Sydney's Garvan Institute of Medical Research were able to determine through epigenetics that the BCL-2 gene is silenced in resistant tumors. The findings are published in the journal Molecular Cancer Therapeutics.

The researchers showed that this could be detected in the blood with the use of a diagnostic marker. The study of epigenetics involves determining how biochemical changes affect cellular DNA. The published research shows that DNA methylation causes the BCL-2 gene to be silenced in estrogen-resistant tumors.

"The main purpose of the BCL-2 gene is to keep cells alive, so when the gene is silenced, cells become more vulnerable to chemotherapy," Dr. Andrew Stone of the Garvan Institute told the news source. "The next step will be to test our findings in clinical studies. We propose that if the BCL-2 gene is silenced, patients with estrogen receptor positive breast cancer would benefit from combination therapy. In other words, tamoxifen could be used in combination with a chemotherapy drug, to kill off vulnerable tumour cells."

Because the chemotherapy drugs needed for this experiment - such as tamoxifen - are already in practice, this study could be applied clinically very quickly, said Stone. According to The Herald Sun, the research points toward combination therapy in which both tamoxifen and chemotherapy are used to treat women with estrogen positive breast cancer. This treatment may be able to stop tumor growth in much earlier stages, which is definitely a hopeful, positive discovery for estrogen positive breast cancer patients.

Sources

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/07/130722123122.htm

http://www.heraldsun.com.au/lifestyle/health-fitness/blood-test-breakthrough-gives-new-hope-to-breast-cancer-sufferers/story-fni0dgux-1226683995837