Orlando: New therapies developed following groundbreaking clinical trials appear to effectively target breast cancer and non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, according to research unveiled at a major cancer conference.
The first therapy targeting the capacity of cancer cells to repair themselves shows promise in treating breast cancer, according to results of two small clinical trials.
The new agent, especially adept at targeting cancers that are most difficult to cure, neutralises an enzyme called PARP (poly-ADP-ribose-polymerase) and prevents it from playing its usual role in repairing the DNA of damaged cells.
Like healthy cells, cancerous cells employ PARP to regenerate themselves after they have been damaged by chemo-therapy treatments.
The studies examined whether breast cancers are more susceptible to chemotherapy when the PARP enzymes have been neutralised.
The first clinical trial was conducted with 116 women suffering from so-called triple negative breast cancer.
These involve fast-spreading tumors that account for 15 percent of the 170,000 annual cases worldwide of breast cancer.
Some of the cases were treated with chemotherapy and a PARP inhibitor called BSI-201 made by the firm BiPar Sciences, a US affiliate of the French-owned laboratory Sanofi-Aventis.