Estrogen receptor mutation study suggests potential treatments for endometrial cancers (CDK9 inhibitors help)

Medical Xpress / Huntsman Cancer Institute / Molecular Cancer Research ^ | Aug. 22, 2023 | Zannel Blanchard et al

[ConservativeMind]

Researchers at Huntsman Cancer Institute identified potential new treatment options for people with endometrial cancer. Endometrial cancer is the most common gynecological cancer and high levels of estrogen promote its development. The study discovered that estrogen receptor mutations found in endometrial cancers cause large changes in endometrial cancer cells.

Estrogen is a reproductive hormone that binds and activates estrogen receptors. Cancer can cause estrogen receptors to remain in a state of constant activity. That increases shedding of the endometrial lining.

"Our goal was to characterize estrogen receptor mutations in endometrial cancer to see how they affected gene expression, along with how these mutations made cells more aggressive and fast-growing," says Zannel Blanchard, Ph.D., postdoctoral fellow at Huntsman Cancer Institute and lead investigator on the study. "We found that the mutations caused large changes in gene expression and cellular behavior."

The team used their findings to identify potential treatments for endometrial cancers with high levels of estrogen receptor activity. They found that inhibitors of CDK9, a protein that works with estrogen receptors, were effective at reducing the growth and aggressiveness of endometrial cancer cells.

"Besides surgery to treat endometrial cancer, there's only one drug approved by the Food and Drug Administration for treating primary endometrial cancer, and it was approved in the 1970s," says Jay Gertz, Ph.D., the senior author and researcher at Huntsman Cancer Institute and associate professor of oncological sciences at the University of Utah. "Our results help us to really start moving toward personalized—or precision—medicine for endometrial cancer."

[ConservativeMind]

CDK9 inhibitors are currently available for use.

[ConservativeMind]

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