2023-05-09 09:06:18
One of the characteristics of cancer cells is their high adaptability to different environments in the body and medication. In this, cancer cells resemble stem cells or cells in an early stage of maturation. Differentiation is a form of treatment that artificially allows cancer cells to mature and change into a ‘normal type of cell’. This form of treatment has already been used successfully in the treatment of blood-borne cancers, but not yet for solid tumors and breast cancer.
Triple negative breast cancer
The Swiss researchers have tested the possibility of applying the differentiation method to triple-negative breast cancer as well. This is a particularly aggressive type of carcinoma. The first Resultsat the end of last year as well published in Nature, are promising. “We show here that we can convert breast cancer cells into less harmful cells that stop growing,” says Mohamed Bentires-Alj, group leader at the Department of Biomedicine.
Triple-negative breast cancer is not sensitive to estrogens or anti-estrogens. This type of carcinoma occurs mainly in premenopausal women and there are often no effective treatment options. “Our original idea was to induce estrogen receptor expression to convert triple-negative breast cancer to estrogen receptor-positive breast cancer because of more effective treatment options available for this subtype,” said the study’s lead author, Dr. Milica Vulin.
Convert cancer cells into normal cells
In collaboration with Novartis, the research team tested more than 9,500 compounds for their efficacy in achieving this goal. They found that the compounds with the most promising results were inhibitors of an essential cell cycle protein called polo-like kinase 1 (PLK1). Inhibiting this protein resulted in the desired increased expression of the estrogen receptor.
To the researchers’ surprise, this not only turned the triple-negative breast cancer cells into a more manageable type of cancer cells. It converted them into cells that are similar to normal cells.
Implications for breast cancer treatment
The discovery and good initial results of the Swiss study pave the way for a new treatment for triple-negative breast cancer. “The compounds used in this study are already being used in clinical trials to treat other types of cancer, including blood, lung, and pancreatic cancer,” says Bentires-Alj.
For the development of new, innovative treatment methods for breast cancer, it is of great importance that scientists and physicians understand how the cellular and molecular mechanisms of cancer cells differ from normal cells.
The discovery could also have a major impact on the development and effectiveness of immunotherapies. It has often been suggested that “normal-like” cells can be cleared by the immune system, while “cancer cells” evade killing by immune cells. When the differentiation technique allows cancer cells to mature into more normal cells, it is not inconceivable that immunotherapies will also work more effectively.
However, a lot of (follow-up) research is still needed. The developments in the field of immunotherapy are closely followed by the researchers, but they currently lack the time and resources to make further progress, they say.
Further development of cancer treatments
For many years, a great deal of attention has been paid to the search for and research into new, better and/or more effective forms of cancer treatment. A European consortium recently received a total of more than nine million euros for research and the development of personalized cancer treatments. The treatment is tailored to the genetic profile of the tumour.
Catharina Hospital started using smart treatment equipment for breast cancer radiotherapy last year specifically to improve the treatment of breast cancer. In addition, the treatment plans for the radiation of tumors are compiled using AI software.
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