Scientists revealed that a cheap drug could help as many as half of women suffering from breast cancer live longer. Although their study is still in its early phase, it suggests that the widely-available female hormone progesterone may be used to slow down the growth of some tumors.
For the new study published in journal Nature on July 8, researchers showed how the progesterone receptor communicate with the estrogen receptor in breast cancer cells, which could change their behavior and eventually slow down the growth of tumor.
Study researcher Jason Carroll, from the University of Cambridge, said that the researcher could help shed light on why some patients with breast cancer have better outlook. Cancers with progesterone receptors were less deadly albeit the reason for this was unclear.
By studying cancer cells that grow in the laboratory, the researchers found that progesterone receptor and estrogen receptor are closely associated and that the progesterone receptor is capable of making the estrogen receptor less nasty.
Laboratory-grown cancer cells grew to half the size when treated with progesterone and tamoxifen, one of the most successful drugs for breast cancer. Study researcher Carlos Caldas, from the University of Cambridge said that the treatment appeared to control the tumors better. Nonetheless, he said that a trial is needed in order to prove this is better in women who have breast cancer.
"We then compared these maps in breast cancer cells grown with and without progesterone," Carroll said. "This revealed how the 'switched on' progesterone receptor redirects the oestrogen receptor to different DNA regions - switching on a different set of genes that slow down cell growth."
The researchers said that the findings of the study was significant and offered a strong case for clinical trials aimed at investigating the potential benefits of adding the hormone to drugs that target estrogen receptor, which could pave way to better treatment of majority of hormone-driven breast cancers.
"Progesterone receptor (PR) expression is used as a biomarker of oestrogen receptor-α (ERα) function and breast cancer prognosis," Carroll and colleagues wrote. "Here we show that PR is not merely an ERα-induced gene target, but is also an ERα-associated protein that modulates its behaviour."
The researchers said that the study has shown that a cheap and widely available drug has the potential to improve the treatment of about half of breast cancer cases.
Photo: Audrey | Flickr
