- BRCA1 mutation increases risk of breast cancer by 87 per cent
- Hollywood star went public after finding out about her faulty gene in 2013
- Discovery could lead to the first ever non surgical treatment for women
- Existing drug found to prevent or delays deadly tumours from growing
Colin Fernandez Science Correspondent For The Daily Mail
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Hollywood star Angelina went public in 2013 about her double mastectomy and having both ovaries removed after finding out she had BRCA1 mutation
Breast cancer could be treated using an existing medicine already used to treat brittle bone disease in women, a new study suggests.
Women who have a faulty BRCA1 gene have a hugely increased risk of breast and ovarian cancer of up to 87 per cent.
Many women with the defective gene – such as Hollywood actress Angelina Jolie – have their breasts and ovaries removed as a protective measure.
The drastic procedure might eventually be rendered unnecessary, as an existing drug prevents tumours forming in breast tissue, researchers claim.
Australian researchers said that the osteoporosis drug denosomab, which is already used to treat the bone-wasting disease, is also effective against breast cancer in laboratory tests.
Researchers said the findings meant medicine was ‘on the path to the Holy Grail’ – a drug that could prevent breast cancer would mean women did not have to go through painful surgery.
Because the drug has already been tested in humans, it will be a much shorter time before an effective medicine can be produced compared to other drugs that must still undergo lengthy clinical safety trials.
Researchers at the Walter and Eliza Hall lnstitute in Melbourne said denosumab, in tests using pre-cancerous breast tissue cells, showed promise at stopping tumours forming.
They said that if confirmed in clinical studies, the drug could provide a non-surgical alternative to stop breast cancer in those with a heightened risk of the disease.
The research was published in the journal Nature Medicine.
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Researcher Linda Nolan, of The University of Melbourne said they had identified breast cells more likely to become cancerous – which the drug stopped becoming deadly.
She said: ‘These cells proliferated rapidly, and were susceptible to damage to their DNA – both factors that help them transition towards cancer.
‘We were excited to discover that these pre-cancerous cells could be identified by a marker protein called RANK.’
Professor Geoff Lindeman, who is also a medical oncologist at The Royal Melbourne Hospital, said the discovery of RANK as a marker of cancer precursors was an important breakthrough, because inhibitors of the RANK signalling pathway were already in clinical use.
He said: ‘An inhibitor called denosumab is already used in the clinic to treat osteoporosis and breast cancer that has spread to the bone.
‘We therefore investigated what effect RANK inhibition had on the cancer precursor cells in BRCA1-mutant breast tissue.’
Many women who carry a faulty BRCA1 gene have no option but to choose surgery to remove breast and ovaries to reduce their chance of developing cancer
The research team showed that RANK inhibition switched off cell growth in breast tissue from women with a faulty BRCA1 gene and curtailed breast cancer development in laboratory models.
Professor Lindeman added: ‘We think this strategy could delay or prevent breast cancer in women with an inherited BRCA1 gene mutation. A clinical trial has already begun to investigate this further.’
‘This is potentially a very important discovery for women who carry a faulty BRCA1 gene, who have few other options.
‘Current cancer prevention strategies for these women include surgical removal of the breasts and/or ovaries, which can have serious impacts on people’s lives.
‘To progress this work, denosumab would need to be formally tested in clinical trials in this setting as it is not approved for breast cancer prevention.’
Professor Jane Visvader, co-author said the discovery had its basis in more than a decade of investigations of breast stem cell function.
‘By thoroughly dissecting how normal breast tissue develops, we have been able to pinpoint the precise cells that are the culprits in cancer formation.
‘It is very exciting to think that we may be on the path to the ‘’holy grail’’ of cancer research, devising a way to prevent this type of breast cancer in women at high genetic risk.’
The Australian team is not the only group working on denusomab.
In Austria a group led by Josef Penninger found that denusomab stopped mice with BRCA1 from developing breast cancer.
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