Poor get poorer
As always, given the inequities built into the global economic system, the poorest people in the world have been the…
Certain drugs currently used to treat breast, ovarian and pancreatic cancers, could also be used to treat some gastric cancers, researchers have found.
Gastric cancer, otherwise known as stomach cancer, does not respond well to existing treatments and it is currently the third leading cause of cancer death in the world, after lung and liver cancer.
Researchers have discovered that certain drugs, currently used to treat breast, ovarian and pancreatic cancers, could also be used to treat certain gastric cancers with a particular pattern of mutations (genomic molecular fingerprint).
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Recent research has shown that a specific genomic molecular fingerprint, called signature 3, is associated with cells that have defective DNA repair mechanisms, for example due to faulty BRCA1 or BRCA2 genes which are linked with breast cancer.
Cancer cells harbouring signature 3 have defects that stop them from efficiently repairing damage to their DNA.
Due to their inability to repair DNA damage, these cells become vulnerable to platinum drugs and PARP inhibitor drugs, both of which attack DNA, causing it to break.
Since the DNA damage cannot then be repaired, the cancer cell dies.
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