New therapies for ER-positive breast cancers

Estrogen receptor (ER)-positive breast cancers are often treated with endocrine therapy; however, resistance can be acquired. Thangavel and colleagues used ER-positive cancer cell lines to find agents which can bypass endocrine therapy and regulate the cell cycle to prevent tumour growth. They used a CDK4/6 (which regulates the activity of the retinoblastoma tumour suppressor protein RB) inhibitor to treat the breast cancer cells and found that it led to a stable cell cycle arrest. RB activation is important and can be controlled via upstream deregulation of its pathway. This study shows that factors which can re-establish cell cycle control have therapeutic potential for the treatment of breast cancers. Thangavel et al. (2011) Endocrine-Related Cancer 18 333–345.

Read the full article at: DOI:10.1530/ERC-10-0262.