Scientists excited by potential new metastatic breast tumour treatment

Tests on mice at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory (CSHL) could have positive outcomes for patients with metastatic breast tumours.

The institution pointed out that anti-cancer drugs are typically chemicals or proteins that target proteins in cells.

However, tests in which both the target – Malat1 – and the candidate drug were nucleic acids have delivered favourable results.

Dr David L Spector, who led the study, commented: "We got an amazing result – By removing Malat1 – this one, single long non-coding RNA – we made a dramatic impact on the primary breast tumors in these mice. The tumors took on a wholly new character." 

Dr Spector said the findings suggest metastatic tumours have a dependency on Malat1 and are unable to thrive without it.

"We are very pleased and excited by this result," he added.

The team will now carry out further experiments and hope to see if the same outcome can be seen in human clinical trials.