Health & Medicine
Protein Linked to Breast Cancer that Spreads to the Brain
Kathleen Lees
First Posted: Jan 06, 2014 02:38 PM EST
Researchers from the University of Wisconsin-Madison may have identified a protein that could potentially explain why some types of breast cancer metastasize to the brain.
This grim diagnosis, which often goes undetected until patients begin to have extreme headaches or seizures, may leave little treatment options with a rather small amount of time to help the problem.
Yet with new study findings, researchers found that breast cancer cells harness a protein known as alphaB-crystallin, which helps cells stick to endothelial cells that line small blood vessels inside the brain. This protein works to enhance penetration of breast cancer cells via the blood-brain barrier that normally prevents cells and molecules from entering the brain that cause cancerous tissues to metastasize once inside.
Lead study author Dr. Vincent Cryns, professor of medicine at the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health and a member of the University of Wisconsin Carbone Cancer Center, worked with colleagues to develop mouse models with the breast-cancer brain metastasis that mimicked many features of the human disease. Study results showed that by reducing the expression of the alphaB-crystallin found in the breast cancer cells, this altered their ability to form brain metastases in mice.
"These observations in our mouse models suggest that alphaB-crystallin may be a promising drug target that should be explored further," said Cryns, via a press release. "Although there are no drug inhibitors of this protein currently, we are actively pursuing studies to identify drugs that might reduce the expression of the protein or block its effects."
The investigators also found that women with breast tumors who also expressed alphaB-crystallin showed shorter survival than those with breast tumors who did not have the protein.
"The team found breast tumors that expressed alphaB-crystallin were more likely to be triple-negative breast cancers-an aggressive type of cancer, which lacks three receptors (estrogen receptor, progesterone receptor and HER-2) expressed in other types of breast cancer. Triple-negative breast cancers are known to have a high incidence of brain metastasis," the study notes, via the release.
"Our findings suggest that alphaB-crystallin may contribute to the tendency of triple-negative breast cancers to metastasize to the brain and to their poor prognosis," concludes Cryns.
However, he cautions that additional studies need to be conducted in order to determine the validity of these findings.
More information regarding the study can be found via Clinical Cancer Research.
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First Posted: Jan 06, 2014 02:38 PM EST
Researchers from the University of Wisconsin-Madison may have identified a protein that could potentially explain why some types of breast cancer metastasize to the brain.
This grim diagnosis, which often goes undetected until patients begin to have extreme headaches or seizures, may leave little treatment options with a rather small amount of time to help the problem.
Yet with new study findings, researchers found that breast cancer cells harness a protein known as alphaB-crystallin, which helps cells stick to endothelial cells that line small blood vessels inside the brain. This protein works to enhance penetration of breast cancer cells via the blood-brain barrier that normally prevents cells and molecules from entering the brain that cause cancerous tissues to metastasize once inside.
Lead study author Dr. Vincent Cryns, professor of medicine at the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health and a member of the University of Wisconsin Carbone Cancer Center, worked with colleagues to develop mouse models with the breast-cancer brain metastasis that mimicked many features of the human disease. Study results showed that by reducing the expression of the alphaB-crystallin found in the breast cancer cells, this altered their ability to form brain metastases in mice.
"These observations in our mouse models suggest that alphaB-crystallin may be a promising drug target that should be explored further," said Cryns, via a press release. "Although there are no drug inhibitors of this protein currently, we are actively pursuing studies to identify drugs that might reduce the expression of the protein or block its effects."
The investigators also found that women with breast tumors who also expressed alphaB-crystallin showed shorter survival than those with breast tumors who did not have the protein.
"The team found breast tumors that expressed alphaB-crystallin were more likely to be triple-negative breast cancers-an aggressive type of cancer, which lacks three receptors (estrogen receptor, progesterone receptor and HER-2) expressed in other types of breast cancer. Triple-negative breast cancers are known to have a high incidence of brain metastasis," the study notes, via the release.
"Our findings suggest that alphaB-crystallin may contribute to the tendency of triple-negative breast cancers to metastasize to the brain and to their poor prognosis," concludes Cryns.
However, he cautions that additional studies need to be conducted in order to determine the validity of these findings.
More information regarding the study can be found via Clinical Cancer Research.
See Now: NASA's Juno Spacecraft's Rendezvous With Jupiter's Mammoth Cyclone