Scientists discover protein that "speeds up" breast cancer

Scientists discover protein that

PanARMENIAN.Net - Scientists have discovered a protein which speeds up aggressive breast cancer – and it could be the key to developing new treatments, The Sun reports.

Experts at Cardiff University are hoping new and improved therapies could now be developed for treating the protein.

Their study looked at an aggressive type of breast cancer called triple negative, which is resistant to hormone therapy and occurs in around 15 per cent of cases.

They found that a protein called LYN was affected by aggressive forms of breast cancer and by treating the protein the cancer was altered.

Professor Matt Smalley, from the university's European Cancer Stem Cell Research Institute, said: "There are 150 new cases of breast cancer diagnosed in the UK every day.

"To achieve better outcomes for people facing this disease, we need to better understand how it develops so we can improve therapies.

"We wanted to understand what drives an aggressive type of breast cancer called triple negative, which is resistant to hormone therapy and occurs in around 15 per cent of breast cancer cases.

"We looked at a protein called LYN, which is involved in keeping cells alive and allowing them to divide and found that it was no longer properly controlled in aggressive breast cancer cells and could drive the cancer cell growth, spread and invasion."

The team also found that in a subset of triple negative breast cancer cells associated with the BRCA1 gene mutation, LYN could be switched on and increase cancer cell survival directly as a result of the loss of BRCA1.

Interfering with LYN function under experimental conditions killed these BRCA1-mutant cells.

Prof Smalley added: "Now that we understand the role LYN has in aggressive forms of cancer, we can start to think about developing targeted therapies.

"In the future, we could potentially identify patients that have increased levels of LYN or a BRCA1 gene mutation and design their breast cancer therapy to suit their type of cancer.

"We could target LYN to improve therapy options for aggressive breast cancer."

 Top stories
Authorities said a total of 192 Azerbaijani troops were killed and 511 were wounded during Azerbaijan’s offensive.
In 2023, the Azerbaijani government will increase the country’s defense budget by more than 1.1 billion manats ($650 million).
The bill, published on Monday, is designed to "eliminate the shortcomings of an unreasonably broad interpretation of the key concept of "compatriot".
The earthquake caused a temporary blackout, damaged many buildings and closed a number of rural roads.
Partner news
---