Drugs may Help Turn on Gene Switched Off in Cancer

While the existing HDAC inhibitors were found to switch on the BRM gene, the effect was short-lived and reduced as the drugs were taken away. “The HDAC inhibitors are not the perfect answer, but in principle this tells us we can turn our gene back on. If we can turn the gene back on, it may not be a cure for cancer, but it could slow it down or make it responsive to existing drugs,” Reisman says.

The researchers targeted lung cancer cell lines in particular, although they found similar results in a variety of other cancer cell lines tested. “Tumours are not the same from one person to the next, and even the cells within a single tumour are not the same. Giving a single drug or drug combination to 500 people is setting ourselves up for failure, much like a one-size-fits-all clothing store would never succeed,” Reisman says.

“Targeted therapies are now opening the door, because they are essentially given only to those patients who have a high likelihood of response. Their low toxicity means the patient can be treated for long periods of time, which is unlike older and more traditional chemotherapy agents. Even if these new targeted therapies don’t cure the cancer, we can at least have long-term survival,” he adds.

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