http://www.therapeuticsdaily.com/new...0&channelID=28Diabetes drug could fight two killers
The West Australian - May. 15, 2007
Drugs already used to treat diabetes and obesity could also be a powerful anti-cancer therapy, after researchers found they target an enzyme linked to as much as 40 per cent of breast cancers.
Canadian doctors said they believed the enzyme produced by the gene PTP1B, which was already known to be an important factor in the development of diabetes and obesity, was also overactive in some breast cancers.
A team led by Michel Tremblay at McGill Universitys Cancer Centre in Montreal said they found evidence that the gene was associated with how breast cancer spread in two out of every five women with the disease.
Their study, published in the magazine Nature Genetics, showed that halting the activity of the gene in mice predisposed to cancer slowed the growth of tumours and in some cases prevented them.
"The gene PTP1B is known for its role in diabetes and obesity, and in this new study we found that its role is equally crucial in the promotion of the proliferation and metastasis (spreading) of cancer tumours," Dr Tremblay said.
"Adapting these compounds is all that is needed to attack breast cancer."
An article published by the same group of researchers in the journal Science in 1999 showed that suppressing the enzyme made it possible to cure type 2 diabetes and obesity. Many pharmaceutical companies have since developed new inhibitor drugs to treat these diseases.
Dr Tremblay said 30-40 per cent of all cases of breast cancer involved over-expression of PTP1B. Drugs that had already been developed to "tone down" these enzymes could also help treat breast cancer, especially if used in conjunction with Herceptin in women with the breast cancer type HER2-positive.
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