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Urdu“Our findings are exciting as they offer a new option to fight breast and ovarian cancers as effectively as clinically utilized drugs now targeting the HER2 protein,” said Faye Rogers, PhD, Associate Professor of Therapeutic Radiology at Yale Cancer Center. “A number of anticancer therapies have been developed to inhibit the protein products of amplified cancer driver genes, but have met drug resistance.”
The strategy of Rogers and her team was to develop a drug platform that directly targets the amplified gene and converts the amplified DNA in the cancer cells into excessive DNA damage. Researchers induced gene-specific DNA damage by forming triplex structures at specific sequences within the amplified genes. Gene copy number variations allow formation of multiple triplex structures in the cancer cells (excessive DNA damage) and not in healthy cells that lack gene amplification (minimal DNA damage). This approach hijacks the cells own DNA damage response machinery and allows normal cells to choose DNA repair and survival while forcing cancer cells to die. This reduces the potential for normal tissue toxicity.
Researchers are encouraged this discovery can be translated to help patients with other types of cancers. More than 460 amplified genes have been identified across 14 cancer subtypes.
“We plan to extend this platform, particularly focusing on cancers with limited precision medicine options,” added Rogers. “We will also focus our efforts on drug delivery, since inadequate bioavailability to the tumor can significantly impact therapeutic effect.”
Funding for this study was provided by grants from the NIH and a Breast Cancer Alliance Exceptional Project Grant.
Yale associate research scientist Meetu Kaushik Tiwari, PhD, is lead author of the study. Other Yale authors contributing to this research include: Daniel A. Colon-Rios, Hemanta C Rao Tumul, Yanfeng Liu, Elias Quijano, Adam Krysztofiak, Cynthia Chan, Eric Song, Demetrios T. Braddock, MD, PhD, Hee-Won Suh, PhD, and W. Mark Saltzman, PhD.
About Yale Cancer Center and Smilow Cancer Hospital Yale Cancer Center (YCC) is one of only 51 National Cancer Institute-designated comprehensive cancer centers in the nation and the only such center in Connecticut. Cancer treatment for patients is available at Smilow Cancer Hospital through 13 multidisciplinary teams and at 15 Smilow Cancer Hospital Care Centers in Connecticut and Rhode Island. Comprehensive cancer centers play a vital role in the advancement of the NCI’s goal of reducing morbidity and mortality from cancer through scientific research, cancer prevention, and innovative cancer treatment.
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