Featured Research
December 31, 2012
Australian scientists have discovered how a protein causes breast cancer to become more aggressive and resistant to common drugs.
AsianScientist (Dec. 31, 2012) ? Australian scientists have discovered how a protein causes breast cancer to develop into a more aggressive version that is resistant to common drugs.
These tumors lack sensitivity to the estrogen hormone and do not respond to anti-estrogen therapies such as Tamoxifen and aromatase inhibitors.
Transcription factors are molecules that switch genes on or off. In this case, the ELF5 transcription factor inhibits sensitivity to estrogen very early in the life of a breast cancer cell.
In 2008, Associate Professor Chris Ormandy from Sydney?s Garvan Institute of Medical Research showed that ELF5 was responsible for the development of the estrogen-receptor-negative cells in the breast during pregnancy that produce milk.
In a recent study published in PLoS Biology, Ormandy and collaborators showed that the same molecular decision occurs in breast cancer and that ELF5 has the ability to change an existing tumor to an estrogen-insensitive type.
The team also described the genetic mechanisms by which ELF5 opposes the action of estrogen, and showed that it is possible to alter the subtype of breast cancer by manipulating ELF5 levels.
?This work tells us that cancers which become refractory to anti-estrogen treatment often do so by elevating their levels of ELF5 and becoming functionally oestrogen receptor negative,? said Ormandy. ?This raises the therapeutic option of manipulating ELF5 levels to treat breast cancer.?
According to Ormandy, small molecule therapies that target protein-to-protein interactions, or small inhibitory RNAs, could be developed as ELF5 is intracellular.
ELF5 levels could also be used for diagnostic testing, to predict a tumor?s response to treatment and therefore guide treatment decisions, he said.
?Our key discovery here is that by simply manipulating one transcription factor we can change the subtype of breast cancer,? said Ormandy.
The article can be found at: Kalyuga M et al. (2012) ELF5 Suppresses Estrogen Sensitivity and Underpins the Acquisition of Antiestrogen Resistance in Luminal Breast Cancer.
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Source: Research Australia; Photo: Sanofi Pasteur/Flickr/CC.
Disclaimer: This article does not necessarily reflect the views of AsianScientist or its staff.
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