The BBC News has reported that breast and ovarian cancers caused by a
faulty BRCA2 gene often become resistant to standard drugs.
In addition, British scientists now believe they know why.
It should be noted that the findings could help doctors spot those
patients who stand to benefit most from particular treatments, and
also give insights into how medicines lose their effectiveness.
As was reported in the journal Nature, researchers at the Institute of
Cancer Research in the United Kingdom, noted that healthy BRCA2 is
actually a tumor suppressor.
Still, it should be noted that a defective form of the gene renders
cells incapable of fixing damaged DNA, which in turn encourages
malignancy.
It is noteworthy of mention that the new research was conducted with
both breast and ovarian cancer cells.
Further investigation into this report depicts that the research team
found that after exposure to standard chemotherapy, some cells mutate
back to the normal BRCA2 gene type.
They state that this allows the cells to overcome DNA damage but it
does not neutralize the tumor.
To conclude, Prof. Herbie Newell, executive director of translational
research at Cancer Research UK, told the BBC that "The research
deepens our understanding of why some breast cancer patients with a
faulty BRCA2 gene may stop responding to treatment. This type of
research is becoming increasingly important as we seek to tailor
cancer therapies to individual patients"
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