( Because up to 75 percent of breast can...)Breast Cancer May Be 'Uniquely Sensitive' To Inhibitors Of PI3K Pathway

"Because up to 75 percent of breast cancer patients have an abnormality in a specific cell signaling pathway, drugs that target different molecules along that pathway may be especially effective for treating the disease, says a researcher from The University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center."

A clearer picture is now emerging about the importance of the phosphatidylinositol 3 kinase (PI3K) pathway to breast cancer development, says Gordon Mills, M.D., Ph.D., a professor and chair of the Department of Molecular Therapeutics. This pathway, which is linked to critical growth factor receptors and is involved in programmed cell death, is aberrant at multiple levels in breast cancer, including mutations in PI3K itself or its many “downstream?players, such as PTEN, or AKT. “There is a lot of crosstalk between the PI3K pathway and other pathways, a lot of feed-forward and feedback loops,?says Mills. “But I and others believe there are central nodes between these intersecting circles that can be effectively targeted with drugs.?Only one PI3K pathway inhibitor is in use to date, but others are increasingly being developed and tested, says Mills, who is discussing the importance of this pathway at the annual San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium meeting. “At least 20 different companies have recognized the importance of the pathway in breast cancer and are trying to develop drugs that target it.?In the future, breast cancer tissue samples from newly diagnosed patients can be tested for their specific PI3K pathway abnormality in order to find a drug that zeroes in on what may be the cancer’s Achilles?heel, Mills says. “Using those drugs in combination with other treatments such as chemotherapy may significantly advance breast cancer care,?he says.
'"/>

Source:Press release from The University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center

Page: 1
Related biology news :

1. Adding Radiation Therapy To Chemotherapy Improves Survival In Patients With High-risk Breast Cancer
2. Deficient DNA Repair Capacity Associated With Increased Risk Of Breast Cancer
3. First-ever Compounds To Target Only Metastatic Cells Are Highly Effective Against Breast, Prostate, And Colon Cancers
4. Gene Vaccine Protects Mice Against Development Of Her2/neu Breast Cancer
5. New Breast Cancer Test Could Save Lives
6. Breast-Cancer Risk Linked to Exposure to Traffic Emissions at Menarche, First Birth
7. Nanoparticle Breast Cancer Drug Approved by FDA
8. Genpathway and Baylor College of Medicine Identify New Genes in Breast Cancer
9. Bevacizumab Combined With Chemotherapy Improves Progression-Free Survival for Patients With Advanced Breast Cancer
10. Affymetrix and bioMerieux Extend Their Agreement on GeneChip(R) Technology to Breast Cancer Diagnostics
11. Antiretroviral Therapy May Prevent HIV Transmission From Breastfeeding Mothers To Infants