Tumor-Suppressing Gene Determines Drug Effectiveness

Researchers studying how best to use chemotherapy to treat breast cancer have found that the tumor-suppressing gene pRb2/p130 is critical in determining how effective a particular drug therapy will be.

They reported in the June 5, 2003, issue of Oncogene that in estrogen receptor-positive and estrogen receptor-negative mammary cell lines of women who have been affected with breast cancer, pRb2/p130 binds with the estrogen receptor gene alpha and sends out signals to engage or recruit a specific subset of molecules.

"These key molecules together are recruited by pRb2/p130 onto the receptor gene alpha, which when expressed on mammary cell lines makes the breast tumors more responsive to treatment,” explained first author Dr. More...