Breast Cancer With ER+ Shows Promise With Combination Therapy

(CTN News) – Breast cancer that is advanced and estrogen receptor positive (ER+) can be particularly challenging to treat because of its advanced stage.

Researchers at Dartmouth Cancer Center led by Todd W. Miller, PhD, have recently conducted a study that shows that a combination of estrogen and a PARP inhibitor (a drug that suppresses the repair of DNA damage) could provide an effective treatment for this type of cancer.

Since the 1950’s, estrogen has been used as a treatment for breast cancer for more than 50 years.

Approximately 30% of patients with advanced endocrine-resistant ER+ breast cancer who are treated with estrogens experience anti-cancer effects as a result of their treatment with estrogens.

There is no doubt that estrogen therapy is effective, but its mechanism of action remains unclear and the treatment is still not widely used despite its proven effectiveness.

In Miller’s study, his team found that estrogen can damage cancer cells by re-engaging the estrogen receptor within the cancer cells, which Breast Cancer causes the cells to become damaged.

A PARP inhibitor can be used to make this damage worse by preventing cancer cells from being able to repair their DNA, which can cause further damage to the DNA.

A new study published ahead of print in Clinical Cancer Research, a journal of the American Association for Cancer Research, has found that estrogen therapy induces receptor-dependent DNA damage in ER+ breast cancer that is enhanced by PARP inhibition.

In order to ensure the safety and effectiveness of this new treatment strategy for patients, a clinical study will be conducted to test its safety and effectiveness.

It is expected that this approach will provide a new treatment option for patients with advanced ER-positive breast cancer if it is successful.

In light of our research finding that PARP inhibitors can enhance the therapeutic effects of estrogen, we believe that PARP inhibitors will be able to be widely used to treat more patients in the future,” Miller explains.

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