German scientists are testing a new drug against triple negative breast cancer that does not respond to hormone therapy and is considered one of the most aggressive varieties of the disease.

Triple negative breast cancer differs from the fact that in tumor cells there is no increased expression of estrogen, progesterone and HER2 protein receptors. The absence of typical cell receptors does not allow to affect the tumor with standard drugs.

The share of triple negative cancer accounts for 10-20% of cases of invasive breast cancer.

Researchers from the University of Freiburg (Germany) reported that they are experimenting with a new drug, an inhibitor of the epigenetic regulator KDM4. It is an enzyme that controls the expression of genes and the growth of malignant tumors.

Authors of the project Jochen Maurer of the Center for Translational Cellular Research and his colleague Roland Schule state that a unique drug can stop the growth of triple negative cancer and prolong the life of patients.

Scientists hope that in the next few years a fundamentally new option for the treatment of breast cancer resistant to standard therapy will appear in German clinics.

Details are reported in the journal Cancer Research.

Promising results of the new KDM4 inhibitor.

For many years, science has been trying to understand the phenomenon of "cancerous stem cells," which are very similar to normal stem cells, but are involved in the growth of a malignant tumor. Cancer stem cells are very adaptable, they can often resist the most advanced methods of cancer treatment, grow rapidly and form sites.

Now, researchers have been able to isolate cancer stem cells from tumors and to study more closely the mechanisms of survival of these unique killer cells.

Dr. Maurer and his colleagues managed to develop a model of tumor stem cells in vitro, which exactly corresponded to those obtained from the initial cultures of triple negative breast cancer. Then Maurer and Schule tested the effectiveness of various epigenetic inhibitors, trying to destroy cells.

It turned out that the newly developed inhibitor of the enzyme KDM4 promises.

Using the inhibitor of KDM4, the researchers managed to stop the proliferation of several populations of cancer stem cells. The drug modified a special "stem" state, depriving the cells of the ability to uncontrolled division and growth.

In the future, scientists tested an inhibitor in mice that had tumors of human breast cancer. These experiments also produced promising results: the spread of cancer in animals was significantly slowed down.

If further experiments will bear the same fruits, it will serve as a good omen of an early victory over triple negative cancer.

medbe. en.