“Our goal was to characterize estrogen receptor mutations in endometrial cancer to see how they affected gene expression, along with how these mutations made cells more aggressive and fast-growing,” says Zannel Blanchard, Ph.D., a postdoctoral fellow at Huntsman Cancer Institute and lead investigator on the study. “We found that the mutations caused large changes in gene expression and cellular behavior.”
The team used their findings to identify potential treatments for endometrial cancers with high levels of estrogen receptor activity. They found that inhibitors of CDK9, a protein that works with estrogen receptors, were effective at reducing the growth and aggressiveness of endometrial cancer cells.
“Besides surgery to treat endometrial cancer, there’s only one drug approved by the Food and Drug Administration for treating primary endometrial cancer, and it was approved in the 1970s,” says Jay Gertz, Ph.D., the senior author and researcher at Huntsman Cancer Institute and associate professor of oncological sciences at the University of Utah. “Our results help us to really start moving toward personalizedor precisionmedicine for endometrial cancer.”
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“It’s exciting because the study suggests that there may be more options for endometrial cancer patients,” says Blanchard. “There’s more going on when you look deeper and we get to share these findings with patients who have been through treatment.”
The study suggests that molecular evaluation of tumors could lead to more personalized treatment options for endometrial cancer patients.
Reference :
- Allele-specific Gene Regulation, Phenotypes, and Therapeutic Vulnerabilities in Estrogen Receptor Alpha-mutant Endometrial Cancer – (https://aacrjournals.org/mcr/article-abstract/doi/10.1158/1541-7786.MCR-22-0848/727856/Allele-specific-Gene-Regulation-Phenotypes-and?redirectedFrom=fulltext)
Source: Eurekalert
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