Scientists have successfully developed a new combination therapy for breast cancer.

In a recent study published in the international journal Molen Cell, scientists from Monash University and others developed a new combination therapy that could help treat breast cancer patients with specific genetic mutations.
researcher Antonella Papa said: 'In this study, we developed a new treatment for breast cancer patients who are missing the PTEN gene or carry mutations in the PI3K cancer gene, a special gene that inhibits tumor progression; Proteomics screening found that the absence of PTEN and pi3K gene mutations can work together to form tumors in breast tissue, and then they found that inhibiting the function of AKT proteins or effectively blocking the growth of PTEN and PI3K mutations in breast organs.
photo source: (c) Kelvin Yip - Monash MicoImaging (MMI) researchers also found that the absence of PTEN function increases levels of glucocorticoid receptors (GR, glucocorticoid receptors) and makes tumor cells more prone to death.
the combination of a therapy called dexemisson with an AKT inhibitor may inhibit the growth of cancer cells with PTEN/PI3K mutations better than a single compound, and dexemisson is a widely used drug that effectively activates the expression of GR.
scientists are currently testing the effectiveness of this combination therapy in preclinical animal models, and more in-depth research will be conducted later in clinical trials of breast cancer therapy.
PTEN provides instructions to make enzymes found in most tissues of the body, and it can also function by blocking cell growth, rapid or out-of-control division, compared to PI3K, a special enzyme that promotes cell growth and maintains the proliferation of cancer cells when they mutate.
PTEN or PI3K mutations occur in nearly 50 percent of breast cancer patients, and 10 percent of breast cancer patients carry a combined mutation of these two genes.
'The results of this study may be expected to benefit many breast cancer patients, and we found that GR makes PTEN mutant cells sensitive to death, and the findings are completely new, which is the complete opposite of what we expected,' said Papa, a researcher at the university.
, the researchers said that while the study focused on breast cancer, the two genes, PTEN and PI3K, induce tumor formation in many tissues in the body.
original source: Hon Yan K. Yip, Annabel Chee, Ching-Seng Ang, et al. Control of Glucocortic Receptor Levels by PTEN Companyes a Failsafe Mechanism for Tumor Suppression. Molecular Cell. VOLUME 80, ISSUE 2, P279-295. E8, OCTOBER 15, 2020. DOI: 10.1016/j.molcel.2020.09.027 Source: Bio Valley, for more information please download Bio Valley APP (