British scientists have discovered why a treatment for ovarian
cancer only works in half of the patients who have it, according to
BBC on Sunday.
Paclitaxel, part of a family of drugs called taxanes, originally
derived from yew trees, shrinks ovarian tumors, but Cambridge
University researchers found that patients lacking a specific type
of protein tend to be immune.
The researchers examined ovarian cancer cells and data from 20
patients and found those who did not respond to paclitaxel had
lower levels of a protein called TGFBI in their pre-treatment
samples.
Further analysis revealed that cancer cell death rate was higher
following treatment where levels of TGFBI were high.
"TGFBI is lost in one third of primary ovarian cancers and it is
possible that this protein could be used as a biomarker for
selecting patients likely to respond to this class of drug," lead
researcher James Brenton said.
The researchers said their work reveals that some proteins that
surround cancer cells such as TGFBI send messages to microtubules,
the backbone of the cell, sensitizing them to paclitaxel.
Deciphering the code by which these messages are sent will
enable the discovery of new treatments that will simulate the coded
messages leading to a significant improvement in paclitaxel
response, according to Ahmed Ashour Ahmed who also worked on the
study.
The findings offer hope not only for improved ovarian cancer
treatment, it may also lead to improvements in the success rate of
other taxane drugs used to treat lung and breast cancer, the
researchers said.
Herbie Newell, of Cancer Research UK which funded the survey,
said, "We are entering a period of cancer treatment where more
drugs are targeted at those people who will benefit the most. This
personalized medicine approach potentially means treatments will be
more effective with fewer side effects. This is really important
for diseases like ovarian cancer that can be challenging to
treat."
There are 7,000 cases of ovarian cancer diagnosed in Britain
each year. The disease is often difficult to detect.
(Xinhua News Agency December 17, 2007)