In honor of Breast Cancer Awareness Month, we’re highlighting the work our scientists are doing towards the next generation of breast cancer therapies.
Not all breast cancers are the same. One especially aggressive form, which accounts for 15-25 percent of all breast cancer cases, disproportionately affects women under age 50 and African American women of all ages. There are no specialized treatments for this type of breast cancer, but SBP’s newest faculty member, Brooke Emerling, PhD, assistant professor in the Cancer Metabolism and Signaling Networks Program, aims to change that.
“Some types of breast cancer can be treated with targeted therapies—drugs that block the receptors that fuel their growth,” said Emerling. “The type that lacks these three receptors, called triple-negative breast cancer, is treatable only with standard chemotherapy, which doesn’t always work. The lack of specific treatments means that it has a mortality rate three times higher than the other types of breast cancer.”
Triple-negative breast cancer is treated with surgery, chemotherapy and radiation, but surgery doesn’t always remove all the cancer cells, and chemo and radiation are hard on patients because they’re so toxic. Plus, if the cancer is diagnosed at an advanced stage, the maximum tolerated dose of chemo may not be enough to eradicate it. New treatments for triple-negative breast cancer that selectively kill the tumor could have a huge impact on outcomes for future patients.
Emerling has identified a promising new target: enzymes called PI5P4Ks. Turning off these enzymes prevents certain cancers, including triple-negative breast cancer, from growing. According to her studies, PI5P4Ks normally help protect cancer cells from stressful conditions.
These exciting discoveries led to grants from the Department of Defense, the Mary Kay Foundation, and the Breast Cancer Research Foundation to search for molecules that inhibit PI5P4Ks. Her lab will also investigate how these enzymes affect cancer metabolism—how a tumor’s growth is stoked—which could lead to new ways to treat triple-negative breast cancer and other cancers driven by loss of the tumor suppressor p53.
Emerling hopes that her research will lead to new drugs. “My dream is to contribute to the creation of therapies that help more breast cancer patients survive cancer-free,” she said.