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Posted on Aug 25, 2008, 8 p.m.
By Jeanelle Topping
Scientists have announced that they have identified a new drug target that may be used against a virulent type of breast cancer, it has been noted.
Scientists have announced that they have identified a new drug target that may be used against a virulent type of breast cancer, it has been noted.
In news that may be of interest to anti-aging physicians, some patients produce excess amounts of the protein ErbB2 - also known as HER2 - which causes the unchecked proliferation of cells, Eurekalert reports.
The one in four people who fall into this category have poorer prognoses and clinical outcomes than other individuals with the breast cancer.
While drugs such as Herceptin and Lapatinib are effective against tumors which do not produce ErbB2, suppress the protein, however, patients have been known to become resistant to the effects.
Now scientists at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory have identified an enzyme known as Brk which may be useful in future targeted drugs.
Leader of the research team and corresponding author of the paper professor Senthil Muthuswamy said: "The limited success of existing therapy suggested to us that factors besides ErbB2, or proteins that collude with ErbB2, might nullify the effects of Herceptin and Lapatinib."
In related news, a group of US scientists have claimed that the natural compound curcumin may reduce cancer cells.
