There are several forms of breast cancer. It can be progesterone receptor positive (we will call it PR+) or estrogen receptor positive (we will call it ER+). The treatment aimed at curing ER+ cancer consists of surgery, followed by several years of hormone therapy, which is burdensome for patients, often suffering from several side effects. IFLScience tells us that a new study could greatly simplify this grueling process: researchers have managed, in mice, to eradicate mammary tumors using a single dose.
Although it is currently limited only to mice (and a few cats and dogs), the discovery is nonetheless major: breast cancer is one of the most widespread, and if increasingly more patients survive today, the overall care is painful for the sick. In the case of ER+ breast cancer, the tumor stimulates cell growth and the appropriate hormonal treatment can have many undesirable effects on the entire body: pain, fatigue, bone fragility and even the development of uterine cancers called breast cancers. the endometrium. Add to that a relatively high risk of recurrence and you understand that the search for a more effective treatment is not superfluous.
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Scientists are therefore trying to develop more precise therapies, which target cancer cells while limiting side effects as much as possible. This is where a drug molecule called ErSO, on which the D team is working, comes into play.r Paul Hergenrother. Although it is small, this molecule manages to swell and kill the tumor cells – this is necrosis. The first tests were promising, but the unpleasant side effects were still too present.
Hergenrother’s team developed a derivative called ErSO-TFPy, which eliminates the harmful effects without sacrificing its effectiveness. New tests on mice showed that a single dose of ErSO-TFPy was enough to make almost all of the tumor cells disappear, without incidental inconveniences. An observation which was confirmed during tests on cats and dogs.
-ErSO goods
“An anticancer treatment that consists of a single dose, or just a few doses, could transform the management of breast cancer”write the authors of the study, and rightly so: a single ultra-effective dose would save patients many years of therapy and could change their lives. It now remains to be seen whether ErSO-TFPy works in humans, which is not guaranteed.
Human cancer cells grown in the laboratory were subjected to the molecule and, again, the results were encouraging. But these tests will never replace a protocol carried out on a human being with complex physiology. The road is therefore still long for the small modified molecule which is not yet close to leaving the laboratory, but Hergenrother is optimistic, aware of having taken a big step in the fight against breast cancer.
«It is very rare for a compound to shrink tumors in mouse models of breast cancer, let alone completely eradicate them in a single dose. We therefore look forward to seeing ErSO-TFPy progress towards a treatment of breast cancer»he said in a press release.
