Friday, December 12, 2008

DNA Repair Company finds treatment aid for aggressive breast cancer

By Mass High Tech staff

The DNA Repair Company, an early-stage Cambridge firm that works with technologies emerging from MIT and the Dana Farber Cancer Institute, reports that it has identified protein biomarkers that may aid in the treatment of a particularly aggressive form of breast cancer.

The company presented its findings at a breast cancer symposium in San Antonio.

The study was conducted in collaboration with investigators from Dana Farber and Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center. The lead author of the study was Brian Alexander, physician resident at the Harvard Radiation Oncology Program and a White House Fellow, who received the AstraZeneca Clinical Scholars Award in recognition of the merits of the study, according to The DNA Repair Company.

The study used clinical data with “triple-negative” breast cancer, a form of the disease that is not responsive to therapies targeting estrogen receptors, progesterone receptors or the HER2 receptor. The prognosis for triple-negative breast cancer is poor. Clinical biopsies from 143 patients were examined for modulation of various DNA repair proteins that might have an impact on disease progression. DNA repair pathways correct DNA that has been damaged by many common forms of cancer treatment, according to the company, which said that clinical samples from half of the patients showed “a statistically significant correlation between the presence of four DNA repair proteins and recurrence-free survival.”

The findings suggest that monitoring DNA repair protein profiles in triple-negative breast cancer will provide important insights as prognostic or predictive tools.