Targeting Dormant Breast Cancer Cells Before They Strike Again

Canadian scientists have identified a promising therapeutic target to attack to prevent breast cancer from recurring: the protein PIK3C3.

Published this month in Cancer Research, the findings by a team led by Université de Montréal medical professor Jean-François Côté reveal that PI3KC3 is essential for the survival of dormant cancer cells.

By targeting this protein, scientists led by Côté at the UdeM-affiliated Montreal Clinical Research Institute (IRCM), where he runs the cytoskeletal organization and cell migration research unit, were able to eliminate the dormant cells before they triggered a metastatic relapse.

Islam Elkholi, an ocologist with a PhD in molecular biology from UdeM who's now a postdoctoral fellow at McGill University, is the study's first author.

The study was done in collaboration with colleagues at McGill, the University of Toronto, as well as the Albert Einstein College of Medicine, Lee Moffitt Cancer Center & Research Institute, and Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center, in the United States.  

Breast cancer is among the most common forms of cancer and is the second leading cause of cancer death among Canadian women.

Approximately one in four breast cancer patients experience metastatic recurrence, months or even years after their initial diagnosis and treatment. These recurrences occur when cancer cells spread from the breast to distant organs, where they remain dormant before reactivating.

(Newswise/HB)