A study led by the Sanford Burnham Prebys team recently found that certain genetic mutations in younger women are linked to treatment-resistant breast cancer.
Interestingly, these mutations do not show the same effect in older women.
The study could help refine personalized medicine and offer a new way of categorizing breast cancer.
“It’s a given that getting older increases the risk of cancer. But, not all cancers might follow this rule, especially when you consider a person’s genes,” says Svasti Haricharan, Ph.D., an assistant professor at Sanford Burnham Prebys.
She points out that different processes might drive cancer in younger and older people, suggesting that we need to reconsider how we view aging and cancer.
Understanding ER+/HER2- Breast Cancer
The team mainly studied a common form of breast cancer called ER+/HER2- breast cancer. Doctors often treat it with hormonal therapies.
However, these treatments don’t work for everyone. Some tumors, about 20%, resist treatment from the get-go. Up to 40% become resistant over time.
Haricharan says that understanding how specific types of breast cancer become resistant to therapy can help us classify the disease better.
This information might allow doctors to adjust treatment plans for patients likely to experience resistance. For researchers like her, it can guide their efforts in developing new therapies.
Genes, Age, and Treatment Resistance
The researchers analyzed a large database of breast cancer patients. They found a strong link between certain gene mutations and treatment response in ER+/HER2- breast cancer patients, but the effects varied with age.
Some gene mutations only led to treatment-resistant breast cancer in younger women.
Haricharan said, “This finding was so surprising that we almost didn’t believe it at first. But, the same patterns kept showing up in database after database.”
The identified mutations occurred in genes that control cell replication. Normally, these genes repair errors in the replication process—something that goes wrong in almost all cancers.
Haricharan explains, “We usually don’t think about how the mutations that cause cell cycle problems can affect a cancer’s response to treatment or its ability to spread.”
A Paradigm Shift in Cancer Research
This study proposes a new way of thinking about and studying all types of cancer. It emphasizes the importance of connecting the specific type of cell cycle problem that causes cancer with the disease’s outcome years later.
Haricharan states, “This could change how we look at cancer and could have implications far beyond breast cancer.”
The team tested this idea by studying the effect of cell cycle mutations on other types of cancer.
Interestingly, these mutations significantly impacted cancer in women, but not in men. This suggests that the impact of cell-cycle problems might depend on both sex and age.
Haricharan stresses, “These findings highlight why it’s important to consider the patient’s life history when studying cancer.
Too often, cancer research focuses just on cells in a lab dish, overlooking the entire, complex system in which these cells transform and grow.”
The study was published in The Lancet Psychiatry.
If you care about cancer, please read studies about the cause of lung cancer in never smokers, and aspirin could cut cancer death by 20%.
For more information about cancer prevention, please see recent studies about antibiotics linked to higher colon cancer risk, and results showing what you need to know about supplements and cancer.
The study was published in Science Advances.
Copyright © 2023 Knowridge Science Report. All rights reserved.
