Hope for women - New drug to beat breast cancer
Fiona MacRae
29 February 2008
The Courier-Mail
1 - First with the news
Copyright 2008 News Ltd. All Rights Reserved
A DRUG which could prevent thousands of young women developing breast cancer has been created by scientists.
If given regularly to those with a strong family history of the cancer, researchers say it could effectively ``vaccinate'' them against a disease they are almost certain to develop.
The drug, which attacks tumours caused by genetic flaws, could spare those who have the rogue genes the trauma of having their breasts removed.
Currently, a high proportion of women who are told they have inherited the rogue genes choose to have a mastectomy as a preventative measure. Researchers hope such a vaccine will be available within a decade.
Flawed BRCA genes, which are passed from mother to daughter, are responsible for five to 10 per cent of breast cancer cases each year in Australia.
Women with the rogue genes have an 85 per cent chance of developing the disease -- eight times that of the average woman.
Initial tests suggest that the drug, known only as AGO14699, could also be free of the side-effects associated with other cancer treatments, including pain, nausea and hair loss.
The drug, which is being tested on patients in the UK, works by exploiting the ``Achilles heel'' of hereditary forms of breast cancer, which is its limited ability to repair damage to its DNA.
Normal cells have two ways of fixing themselves, allowing them to grow and replicate, but cells in BRCA tumours have only one.
The drug, which is part of the class of anti-cancer medicines called PARP inhibitors, blocks this mechanism and stops the tumour cells from multiplying.
The researchers say the drug could also be used against other forms of cancer, including prostate and pancreatic, although further tests are needed.
Researcher Dr Ruth Plummer, senior lecturer in medical oncology at Britain's Newcastle University, said: ``The implications for women and their families are huge because if you have the gene, there is a 50 per cent risk you will pass it on to your children.''