Potential options for attacking stem cells in triple-negative breast cancer
Wednesday, February 19, 2014 - 01:51
in Health & Medicine
A protein that fuels an inflammatory pathway does not turn off in breast cancer, new research shows, resulting in an increase in cancer stem cells. This provides a potential target for treating triple negative breast cancer, the most aggressive form of the disease. The researchers identified a protein that is highly expressed in normal cells but undetectable in triple-negative breast cancer. They showed that this protein is degraded in cancers, blocking the cellular off-switch of a feedback loop involving an inflammatory protein. When the switch does not get turned off, it enables cancer stem cells to grow.
