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Researchers find why certain medications don't work for all breast cancer patients

Category: Breast

Following lab testing that indicates a woman has breast cancer, it is critical to determine what type of tumor the patient has and understand how it will respond to various therapies. There are several types of breast cancer, each of which react different to specific medications.

A new study may help doctors understand how a patient's cancer will respond to one of the most common breast cancer treatments. Endocrine therapies, like the drug Tamoxifen, have been proven effective at stopping tumor growth in some patients, but are less effective in others.

Researchers from Baylor College of Medicine found that the activation of specific cellular pathway diminishes the effect of endocrine therapies. The team demonstrated that blocking this pathway in mice with breast cancer significantly improved the effectiveness of endocrine medications.

The team said the findings could be useful in determining which patients will benefit from certain treatments. Furthermore, results from the study may eventually lead to the development of new drugs that are more effective at preventing the proliferation of breast cancer cells.