Leukemia gene leads to potential target for triple-negative breast cancer treatment

the Oncology Nurse Advisor take:

A gene previously linked to leukemia could provide a target for drugs to treat triple-negative breast cancer. A team of researchers at the Cancer Research UK Beatson Institute and University of Glasgow measured levels of a protein produced by the RUNX1 gene in tumor samples of a range of breast cancer types from 483 patients. Of the 118 patients who had triple-negative breast cancer, patients who tested positive for the RUNX1 protein were 4x more likely to die from their cancer during the follow-up period, approximately 14 years on average, compared with those without the protein. RUNX1 is one of the most commonly altered genes in leukemia, but this is the first time it is implicated in triple-negative breast cancer. The researchers report that the connection between the protein and triple-negative type of breast cancer opens up the possibility of a new target for treatments.