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More than ten percent of breast cancer cases do not respond to treatment with hormone therapy, which means that they are more aggressive and often reoccur. An international research team led by researchers at Lund University in Sweden has uncovered a way to treat aggressive tumours through manipulation of the connective tissue cells of the tumour. The researchers are now developing a new drug that transforms aggressive breast cancer so that it becomes responsive to standard hormone therapy.
Cancer occurs as a result of mutations and other genetic changes that disable the growth control system in human cells. New studies emphasise the importance of the communication of cancer cells with other cell types in the surrounding tissue, like connective tissue, blood vessels and immune system cells, that enables the tumours to form, spread and resist treatment.
There are different types of breast cancer with different prognoses and treatment options. Patients with breast cancers that are hormone-sensitive have the best prognosis. Basal breast cancers require intensive treatment with chemotherapy, which may be associated with severe side effects.
Studies of the communication between breast cancer cells and their surrounding tissue have revealed a growth factor – PDGF-CC – which transmits signal between the tumour cells and the connective tissue cells, mainly in basal breast cancers. Examination of different breast cancers showed that high levels of PDGF-CC in the tumour cells were associated with a poor prognosis.
It was believed that the various subgroups of breast cancer originated from different cell types in the mammary gland. The research has shown that connective tissue cells can modify tumour cells directly with regard to their sensitivity to hormones, which has significant implications in the development of more effective treatments.
In experimental models, the researchers tested a new biological drug they have developed which blocked the PDGF-CC-mediated communication between the tumour cells and the connective tissue cells this resulted in the transformation of the basal breast cancers into hormone-sensitive luminal breast cancers. As a consequence of this transformation, the tumours then became highly responsive to conventional hormone therapy.
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