International Federation of Gynecology and Obstetrics

New research into women’s health is aiming to starve breast cancer cells, as a common form of the disease exists by using a food delivery system in human cells.

Now researchers at Georgia Health Sciences University (GHSU) in the US are trying to block this system so that patients with breast cancer have additional options open to them, particularly people who have resisted standard therapies like tamoxifen.

Dr Vadivel Ganapathy, chairman of GHSU’s Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, said that a drug known as SLC6A14, which blocks the transporter, used breast cancer cells that were human estrogen receptor-positive.

These cells had either been transplanted onto mice or put in a Petri dish, and died when exposed to the drug.

This research, which is published in the Journal of Biological Chemistry, also found that the transporter is capable of carrying 18 out of 20 known amino acids, fuel that cells require in different combinations.

The research found that estrogen receptor-positive breast cancer that is quickly growing and dividing needs almost every amino acid, so it uses the transporter that can give it the largest load.

Recently, research carried out at the Washington University School of Medicine in the US also showed that those with breast cancer who were given estrogen-lowering drugs may stand less chance of having to have a mastectomy.

Posted by Martine Ward