Fed; Breast cancer traced to bone disease

AAP General News (Australia)
08-24-2001
Fed; Breast cancer traced to bone disease

By Royal Abbott

MELBOURNE, Aug 24 AAP - A Melbourne cancer institute had pinpointed the spread of breast
cancer to bone disease, mapping a pathway for improved treatments, a researcher said today.

Cancer researcher Erica Sloan said Australian women ran a one in 10 risk of developing
breast cancer, but early diagnosis and treatment now provided a complete cure for many
women.

However, if the tumour spread, the disease was hard to control and the medical options
were limited, she said.

Breast cancer which went undetected or untreated developed into bone disease in 70
per cent of patients.

Experiments on mice by Peter MacCallum Cancer Institute researchers have produced a
framework which closely resembles the change from breast cancer to bone disease in humans.

Ms Sloan said she believed the gene which allowed a breast tumour cell to start invading
bone could soon be identified.

"We found differences in the genes expressed by the tumour that spread to bones compared
to those that spread to the lung, but not the bone," Ms Sloan said.

She said two particular genes appeared to play an important role in the spread of breast
cancer to the bone.

One controlled attachment of the tumour cells to normal cells and the other gene regulated
cell growth and could stop tumour cells growing in bones.

Ms Sloan said if cancer researchers could pinpoint the genes responsible for stopping
tumours growing, they could set about finding substances to stop them working.

"When this is understood, it will be possible to develop drugs that specifically target
these genes to prevent the spread of breast cancer, and possible other cancers," she said.

AAP ra/clr/las/de

KEYWORD: BREAST

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