Three approaches to breast cancer treatment are tested in one clinic
The Center for Applied Proteomics and Molecular Medicine, part of the structure of George Mason University in Virginia, simultaneously conducts 3 clinical studies in which different approaches to the treatment of breast cancer are tested.
Chloroquine has a high chanceOne of the clinical studies – PINC (Preventing Invasive Neoplasia with Chloroquine, Preventing invasive neoplasia with chloroquine), is dedicated to the fight against localized carcinoma from the epithelium of the ducts – the most common preinvasive breast cancer.
(Preinvasive cancer, lat. carcinoma in situ – "cancer in situ", – a malignant tumor in the initial stages, a cluster of histologically altered cells without germination into the underlying tissue). In the images obtained by magnetic resonance imaging, these tumors look like white dots representing areas of calcification of the milk ducts. Such foci do not always transform into a malignant tumor, but all breast cancers go through this stage.
Chloroquine, a drug widely used for the prevention and treatment of malaria, has already demonstrated impressive success in the early phase of clinical research. This study includes women who are waiting for the start of standard therapy after their diagnosis of localized carcinoma from the epithelium of the ducts is confirmed by biopsy results.
Chloroquine has very few side effects, one of which, in very rare cases, is a rash. It destroys precancerous cells that accumulate in calcifying foci. The mechanism of action of this drug is to block autophagy – the digestion of their own organelles – to which the cells of a growing tumor resort in order to survive in conditions of nutrient and oxygen deficiency.
Traditional methods of chemotherapy aimed at destroying dividing cells, in some cases, can stimulate autophagy, having the opposite effect to the desired. Chloroquine, on the contrary, blocks the process that gives tumor cells a chance of survival, and is not necessary for the maintenance of healthy cells.
Researchers believe that in the future chloroquine may become a drug for routine prevention of breast cancer.
Personalized Breast Cancer TreatmentMetastases of breast tumors spread to organs such as the liver, brain and bones, and often do not respond to traditional therapies.
Researchers at George Mason University propose to approach the treatment of this disease from the standpoint of personalized medicine. They developed the Petricoin III chip, which allows identifying targets of existing antitumor drugs activated in the cells of each specific tumor based on the molecular profile of metastatic foci.
To date, the study included 25 patients who did not respond to standard treatment protocols for metastatic breast cancer.
The third clinical trial, the I-SPY 2 TRIAL, evaluates the effectiveness of a unique method for determining the molecular profiles of a tumor developed by university specialists specifically for women with stage II/III breast cancer. The US Food and Drug Administration has singled out this clinical trial as a leading study aimed at speeding up the process of obtaining official approval of medicines.
Evgeniya Ryabtseva
Portal "Eternal youth" http://vechnayamolodost.ru based on the materials of George Mason University:
Mason Research Center Attacks Breast Cancer in Three Ongoing Trials.
09.11.2012