'Failed' Scots research leads to new ways of detecting breast cancer

Published on Thursday 3 March 2011 14:56

SCOTTISH scientists have discovered an "exciting" new way of detecting different types of breast cancer, which could help doctors work out the best way to treat patients.

Researchers in Edinburgh had been examining a biological process long thought to play an important role in the development of cancer.

But while they found this mechanism did not operate as suspected, and was not useful in the search for new treatments, it could provide "an exciting new way of detecting subtypes of cancer", charity Breakthrough Breast Cancer said.

The results, published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, could mean doctors are better able to work out how best to treat patients based on the exact type of disease they have.

About 4,000 women a year are diagnosed with breast cancer in Scotland and there are 1,000 deaths annually.

In the latest research, the University of Edinburgh scientists found that the process through which certain genes in the body remain switched off and do not work - called methylation - was probably not involved in the development of tumours.

Much research has focused on this process in the past decade, but it now appears it will not be a potential target for treatments.

The scientists looked at 27,000 areas of the genome - the body's genetic make-up - in samples taken from breast cancer tumours. They found 120 genes whose activity had been stopped, including some that were known to stop tumours developing.

Scientists had thought that if you could stop this from happening, you could "restart" the genes to fight the cancers.

The researchers treated the genes with a drug known to prevent methylation. But even when this process was stopped, the tumour-suppressing genes continued not to work.

They concluded that this meant methylation could not be used as a target for treatment. But the scientists did find that the specific genes switched off made it possible for them to separate the tumours into different groups.

Because different types of cancer react to different treatments, this could help doctors refine the care patients receive.

Lead researcher Dr Bernard Ramsahoye said: "This is a classic case of one door opening as another closes.

"While it is becoming clear methylation is probably not a useful area for cancer treatments, it could well aid diagnosis of tumour subtype.

"This is crucial in helping doctors give cancer patients the right treatment."

Professor David Harrison, director of the Breakthrough Breast Cancer Research Unit in Edinburgh, added: "We had a promising lead, which we now realise is probably a dead-end, but this is a major paradigm shift in how we think about tumour development."