Insight into why breast cancer drug stops working
[07/31/99; Reuters News Service]
NEW YORK, Jul 30 (Reuters Health) -- Breast cancer patients generally
develop resistance to the drug tamoxifen 2 to 5 years into treatment,
but new study results suggest there may be a way to prevent tamoxifen
resistance. Normally, tamoxifen blocks estrogen receptors found
on breast cancer cells, thus thwarting the growth-promoting effect.
Normally, tamoxifen blocks estrogen receptors found on breast cancer cells,
thus thwarting the growth-promoting effects of the female hormone.
About half of breast cancers have such estrogen receptors, and
tamoxifen treatments can be very successful at blocking continued
cancer growth. Over time, however, the tamoxifen stops being
effective as an anti-estrogen agent and begins to act on the
cell like estrogen itself. According to a report in the July 30th
issue of Science, researchers now think they know the reason
why this occurs. Apparently, the tamoxifen begins to change the
shape of the estrogen receptor, which forms an additional ``pocket''
that can bind to peptides, or short proteins inside the cell. The
action of these other proteins seems to change how the cell perceives
tamoxifen, Dr. Donald McDonnell, of Duke University Medical
Center in Durham, North Carolina, and colleagues from the Novalon
Pharmaceutical Corporation in Durham explain.
The full article can be found at:
http://dailynews.yahoo.com/headlines/hl/story.html?s=v/nm/19990730/hl/tam11_
1.html
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