Investigating Breast Cancer is a series of podcasts produced by the Breast Cancer Research Foundation to discuss issues related to breast cancer.
MD. Robert Schneider, director of the New York University Cancer Institute and co-director of the breast cancer research program at NYU Medical School, was invited to talk about his research and metastatic breast cancer.
Metastatic Breast Cancer
Although the higher incidence of mortality in breast cancer is related to metastasis, when the disease has already reached other organs, few clinical studies are focused on metastatic patients.
According to Dr. Schneider, although these patients are at the highest risk, they are the ones who show the least real test results for new drugs and treatments.
An aggravating fact is that breast cancer, even after being defined as cured, has the ability to recur. About 60 to 65% of cancer mortality is related to the metastasis derived from the late recurrence of the disease.
The severity of these data and the fact that, 20 years ago, the only treatment was double mastectomy, and for metastatic patients there was no real treatment, which motivated MD. Schneider to start his research in the field of cancer of breast.
The search
MD. Schneider's research field is to understand how cancer cells can reproduce even in a hostile environment. A central aspect of this study is the operation of mTor.
The goal is to find solutions so that the reproduction of cancer cells can be controlled, avoiding or reversing a metastatic breast cancer.
What is mTor?
MTor is a protein that regulates metabolic pathways in cells. This means that when there is some cellular imbalance, the mTor is responsible for redefining this balance, leading the cell to death or allowing its multiplication.
It is very important for the study of metastatic breast cancer, because the cancer cells can "trick" the mTor, increasing its activation. Thus, even in contexts of low oxygen and nutrients, the cells are able to reproduce and spread throughout the body.
New drugs
New treatments are being developed and tested to prevent the performance of mTor and the reproduction of cancer cells. However, one important aspect that needs to be investigated is how cancer cells work and how they can corrupt mTor protein activity.
Developing drugs, unlike standard chemotherapies, act specifically on certain cellular mechanisms. So, by inhibiting the action of the protein from 20 to 30%, the amount of chemotherapy required is reduced.
For patients who are not treated with chemotherapy, the goal is, in the event of cancer recurrence, that the cancer cells are not resistant to treatment and find ways to reproduce.
The discovery of the action of this protein opens new paths for researchers of metastatic cancer, mainly breast cancer.
If you would like to hear other podcasts about breast cancer, click here.
Source: Breast Cancer Research Foundation