SYDNEY, Oct. 31 (Xinhua) -- Tracking a protein that drives cell division could help doctors tell which breast cancers are likely to respond to CDK4/6 inhibitors, a widely used class of targeted drugs, an Australian study has found.
Researchers at Australia's Garvan Institute of Medical Research found that the activity of a protein called CDK1 in breast cancers is linked to how they respond to a common therapy, an insight that could inform more personalized treatment approaches for patients, according to a statement of the institute released on Friday.
The study focused on estrogen receptor-positive (ER+) breast cancer, the most common type, fueled by the hormone estrogen. Many people with this cancer now receive drugs called CDK4/6 inhibitors alongside hormone therapy. These drugs stop cancer cells from multiplying, but they don't work for everyone, and in advanced cancer, they eventually stop working for most patients.
In more than 400 patients' breast cancer biopsy samples, the researchers found CDK1 activity rose as the cancer became more aggressive, and higher activity was linked to worse outcomes.
The findings need to be tested in larger groups of patients treated with CDK4/6 inhibitors, and could eventually open the door to new drugs targeting CDK1, according to the study published in Advanced Science. ■