New drug halts growth of aggressive breast cancer

Image comparing triple negative breast cancer cells before and after treatment. Taken from under a microscope, the cells on the left are bright green. The cells on the right are grey.

L-R: Triple negative breast cancer cells before treatment and after treatment.

A promising drug could lead to a new treatment for the most aggressive form of breast cancer, which affects thousands of women each year.听听A pre-clinical听study led by the 成人大片 found the new drug successfully inhibits the growth of triple negative breast cancer without any toxic side effects.

鈥淭his is an exciting development in the battle against triple negative breast cancer, which is the most aggressive form of the disease,鈥 said Associate Professor Theresa Hickey, an internationally recognised breast cancer expert at the 成人大片鈥檚 Dame Roma Mitchell Cancer Research Laboratories.

鈥淭here is currently no treatment that specifically targets this type of breast cancer, with chemotherapy and, in some women, immunotherapy being the only options. The results of this study show that this drug could hold the key to improving survival rates.鈥

The drug is designed to be taken orally and works by targeting a specific protein in the cancerous tumour called CDK9, which speeds up cell growth. By inhibiting this protein, it effectively stops cancer in its tracks.

鈥淥ur pre-clinical study shows that the drug was able to stop the tumour cells from multiplying but did not affect the normal cells in breast tissue taken from patients. It is still early days but based on this initial evidence, we believe inhibiting this protein could lead to a treatment for triple negative breast cancer and this new drug should be developed further,鈥 said Associate Professor Hickey.

The collaborative study published in global cancer journal also involved Professor Shudong Wang at the University of South Australia, who developed the drug (CDDD11-8) for the treatment of acute myeloid leukaemia.听

"It is still early days but based on this initial evidence, we believe inhibiting this protein could lead to a treatment for triple negative breast cancer and this new drug should be developed further."Associate Professor Theresa Hickey, Dame Roma Mitchell Cancer Research Laboratories, The 成人大片


鈥淲e鈥檝e developed CDDD11-8 as a potent, selective, and orally bioactive CDK9 inhibitor for cancer therapy. We are very excited about its therapeutical potential against triple negative breast cancer shown by Associate Professor Hickey,鈥 said Professor Wang.听

In Australia, approximately 2500 women are diagnosed with triple negative breast cancer each year. This type of breast cancer occurs more frequently in younger women. It has a higher rate of relapse within five years and a higher mortality rate than other breast cancers during this time.

Researchers hope to identify the biomarkers that predict which triple negative breast cancers will respond best to the inhibitor drug so this can be used to select patients for future trials.

鈥淲hile this drug is showing promise as a potential treatment for triple negative breast cancer, it needs further development before it can progress to human trials. I鈥檓 hopeful this will happen within the next five years, if not sooner,鈥 said Associate Professor Hickey.

The National Breast Cancer Foundation was a major funder of this study.

Researchers also plan to conduct future trials to explore if this potential therapy could be used to treat other types of breast cancer.

鈥淚t is imperative that we keep searching for and preclinically evaluating targeted therapies for this aggressive disease and improve the outlook for all breast cancer patients,鈥 said Associate Professor Hickey.

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