OCTOBER 9, 2024, NEW YORK – Using patient-derived samples for preclinical research, researchers led by Ludwig Harvard’s Karen Cichowski discovered that by combining two therapeutic agents they could drive the cells of triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) into a more treatable state. Their findings appear in the current issue of Nature.
“When combined, these therapeutic agents kill aggressive breast cancer cells by hijacking signals that occur naturally in the body to eliminate breast cells after the cessation of lactation,” said Cichowski, who is also a professor of medicine in the Division of Genetics at Brigham and Women’s Hospital (BWH). “Our results provide compelling support for clinical trials to test whether combining these agents could benefit patients with TNBC.”
Cichowski and her colleagues show that a combination of EZH2 and AKT inhibitors first coax TNBC cells to differentiate and then kill them by triggering a process similar to involution, which normally occurs when breast tissue returns to a non-lactating state after a mother stops producing breast milk. The researchers also used machine learning to predict patient responses—another step that could help set the stage for clinical trials.
The Brigham and Women’s Hospital research brief from which this summary is derived can be accessed here.