Molecules Engineered to Treat Breast Cancer

The researchers used state-of-the-art computational techniques in a novel way to modify molecules that they predicted would be effective lead compounds for breast cancer research.

The investigators, from Hamilton College (Clinton, NY, USA), then asked scientists from the Albany Medical College (Albany, NY, USA) to then synthesize the predicted molecules, which subsequently showed that they were indeed potential anti-breast cancer compounds in animal systems. The study's findings will be published in the May 16, 2007, issue of the Journal of American Chemical Society.

Breast cancer is the most common cancer among women, and tamoxifen is the preferred drug for estrogen receptor-positive breast cancer treatment. Many of these tumors are inherently resistant to tamoxifen or acquire resistance during treatment. Consequently, there is an ongoing need for breast cancer drugs that have different molecular targets.

Earlier studies by the Albany Medical College researchers had demonstrated that 8-mer and cyclic 9-mer peptides suppress breast cancer in mouse and rat models, interacting with an unsolved receptor, while peptides smaller than eight amino acids did not.

The Hamilton researchers utilized state-of-the-art computational techniques to predict the structure and dynamics of active peptides, leading to the finding of smaller peptides with full biologic activity. The results were used to identify smaller peptides with the three-dimensional structure of the larger peptides. These peptides were synthesized and shown to inhibit estrogen-dependent cell growth in a mouse uterine growth assay, a test showing correlation with human breast cancer inhibition.

The study's findings were first presented at the 2006 International Symposium on Theory and Computations in Molecular and Materials Sciences, Biology, and Pharmacology, held on St. Simon's Island, GA, USA.


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Hamilton College
Albany Medical College