Study: Panzem Could Treat Breast Cancer

Research suggests that a new drug could treat breast cancer. Panzem, a drug that has already shown encouraging signs of treating lung and brain cancers, may stop the spread of breast cancer or even treat it fully.

The new drug, called 2-methoxyestradiol (with a trade name of Panzem), is a derivative of estrogen. It prevents new tumor growth by preventing new blood vessels around the tumor from forming. Without blood, the breast cancer cannot continue to spread.

Most importantly the new drug can also cause the breast cancer cells to die, in a process called apoptosis. It is not uncommon for cells to self destruct if they are damaged, or become infected by a virus.

"2ME2 could benefit patients because this single drug essentially combines the effects of chemotherapy (which destroys cancer cells) and antiangiogenesis drugs (which destroy blood vessels that feed tumors)," states Muzaffer Cicek, Ph.D., a Mayo Clinic cell biologist in endocrine research and the corresponding author of the study.

According to the National Cancer Institute says there are nearly one quarter of a million new breast cancer diagnosis each year. Almost two hundred thousand of those diagnosis will have spread and become invasive. For breast cancer, typically the cancer spreads into nearby bone, causing osteolysis.

Researchers think that the greatest potential of the drug will be to prevent the spread of the breast cancer and therefore osteolysis. They also hope that this drug will increase the survival rate for those with advanced breast cancer.

"Targeting metastatic tumors at sites of metastasis would be of great benefit for patients who have advanced cancer. Destroying tumors in bone and also slowing the development of osteolytic lesions would be desirable therapies and greatly improve the prognosis of patients who have bone metastasis," the authors stated in the study.

However, despite the promise of the initial studies according to the Mayo Clinic, the study was only conducted on mice. Clinical trials and longer studies will have to be conducted before any proof of the value of the new drug to treat breast cancer. There have been clinical trials of the drug in attempting to treat other types of cancer, but the results have been limited given the oral administration of the drug. For the treatment of breast cancer, the researchers suggest that the drug be injected.

SOURCES:

Mayo Clinic, "Mayo Clinic study shows drug could effectively treat, prevent the spread of breast cancer" Eurekalert