A targeted approach to Triple-Negative Breast Cancer
Background
Triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) is an aggressive form of cancer that accounts for around 15% of breast cancer cases. There are around 2500 new cases of TNBC in Australia each year. There are no treatments that specifically target this form of the disease and survival rates are lower than for other breast cancer types.
The research
Unlike healthy cells, TNBC cells use a substance called glutamine for energy. The cancer cells have an unusually large number of nutrient ‘pumps’ on their surface, allowing them to take up a lot of glutamine and outgrow normal cells. Professor Holst’s team has developed a new drug that blocks these pumps and ‘starves’ the cancer cells because they can’t access glutamine. Early evidence suggests the drug may have fewer side effects than current chemotherapies, but the team will test this further.
The impact
Testing the drug on cancer cells from people with TNBC will show how well the drug works on many different patients. The work may also lead to a clinical test to tell doctors which cancers would respond to the new drug, so that only those patients who would benefit are treated. If successful, it would be one of the first targeted treatments for this aggressive cancer, with potential for improved survival rates.