New Cellular Flaw Found In Some Virulent Breast Cancers

Researchers at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute have identified a molecular interaction that triggers a particularly aggressive form of breast cancer, and suggest that attacking this target with selective drugs might improve treatment. In the January issue of Cancer Cell, a team led by Qunyan Yu, MD, and Peter Sicinski, MD, PhD, of Dana-Farber report that the interaction of a certain mutated oncogene and the newly described growth control flaw is seen in about 10 percent of breast cancers – and the deadliest ones. The cancer results from a cascade of molecular events. The overproduction of a common protein, cyclin D1, hyperstimulates a growth switch, CDK4 kinase, causing it to unleash a virulent proliferation of cancer cells and creating a tumor with a very poor prognosis.

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