RCSI Researchers uncover breakthrough in predicting severity of breast cancer
Results may potentially enable disease tracking and personalised treatment plans.
Researchers from the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland (RCSI) have identified a biomarker in patient blood which can predict the severity of breast cancer in patients and may enable clinicians to track patients throughout the course of their treatment.
Around 75 percent of breast cancers are fuelled by the hormone estrogen which encourages them to grow. Although this type of breast cancer can be treated with drugs such as tamoxifen, many people develop resistance and see their breast cancer return.
The study published in Cancer Research reports on the identification of biomarkers which will facilitate levels of patients with regard to their potential for disease recurrence. This will lead to the development of personalised treatment programmes for individual patients.
The research, funded by Science Foundation Ireland (SFI) and Breast Cancer Ireland (BCI) investigated the protein changes in breast cancer that is resistant to treatment and found a higher level of a protein called HOXC11 and the presence of a secreted molecule S100-beta that is detected via a simple blood test.
Lead researcher, Dr Leonie Young, Leader of Surgical Research in RCSI said We hope this research will provide vital information about drug resistance to ensure that people with breast cancer are getting treatments that will benefit them personally.
Further work on this project is being funded by Breast Cancer Campaign and will provide vital information so that a new blood test can be designed to predict which breast cancers will become drug resistant to current therapies ensuring that only those who will benefit from a particular treatment actually receive it.
Below is the Article which has been published on PubMed.
Interaction of developmental transcription factor HOXC11 with steroid receptor coactivator SRC-1 mediates resistance to endocrine therapy in breast cancer.
Mechanisms of acquired resistance to endocrine therapy in breast cancer, a major clinical challenge, are poorly understood. We have used a mass spectrometry-based screen to identify proteins
that are associated with the endocrine-resistant phenotype. In this study, we report the identification of a novel pathway of resistance to endocrine therapy involving interactions of the developmental transcription HOXC11 with the steroid receptor coactivator protein SRC-1, which is a strong predictor of reduced disease-free survival in breast cancer patients. HOXC11 and SRC-1 cooperate to regulate expression of the calcium-binding protein S100beta in resistant breast cancer cells. Nuclear HOXC11 and S100beta were found to strongly predict poor disease-free survival in breast cancer patients (n = 560; hazard ratios: 5.79 and 5.82, respectively; P < 0.0001). Elevated serum levels of S100beta detected in patients also predicted reduced disease-free survival (n = 80; hazard ratio: 5.3; P = 0.004). Our findings define a biomolecular interaction network that drives an adaptive response to endocrine therapy with negative consequences for survival in breast cancer.
This Study was carried out at the Endocrine Oncology Research Centre, Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland, St Stephen's Green, Dublin 2
