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Alzheimer's drug among new breast cancer treatment hopes
A drug already used to treat Alzheimer's disease could help to prevent the recurrence of breast cancer, according to researchers at the University of Manchester.
One third of women successfully treated for breast cancer find that the disease recurs at a later date. It is thought that in these cases so-called 'breast cancer stem cells' may generate new tumours.
Studies at the university's Paterson Institute for Cancer Research have revealed that these cells are stimulated by the Notch gene. Future cancer-suppressing drugs may be able to target the gene, but one drug currently used in Alzheimer's patients already does so. The Manchester researchers say that, having already been approved for use in humans, the drug's clinical trials in breast cancer patients could be completed more quickly.
Meanwhile, the University of Bolton's Centre for Materials Research and Innovation (CMRI) announced last week that it was developing a bra which could pick up the abnormal temperature changes that are associated with cancer cells.
CMRI director Professor Elias Siores told BBC News that 'these temperature variations... are the earliest indications of the breast cancer.. or a pre-cancerous state of the breast'.
Category: Healthcare
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