This could support the use of a well-tolerated class of drugs for the prevention of metastatic breast cancer Melanie RutkowskiWhile the scientists’ work was in lab mice, they went on to look at human patients with HR+ breast cancer.
Rutkowski’s results suggest that targeting bile acids, or the underlying dysbiosis, could eventually improve outcomes for patients with metastatic HR+ cancer.
“Because many of the patients who were on bile-acid sequestrants have health issues that tend to favor a worse prognosis for breast cancer, the survival of patients who were prescribed bile-acid sequestrants and who had metastatic breast cancer are extremely encouraging,” Rutkowski said.
“Now we want to know if these existing, FDA-approved drugs can prevent the cancer from spreading in the first place.
If that proves true, this could support the use of a well-tolerated class of drugs for the prevention of metastatic breast cancer.”Source: University of Virginia Health System
This could support the use of a well-tolerated class of drugs for the prevention of metastatic breast cancer Melanie Rutkowski
While the scientists’ work was in lab mice, they went on to look at human patients with HR+ breast cancer. They found that elevated bile acids and insulin resistance were associated with reduced survival. Further, patients with metastatic disease who received bile acid-suppressing medications tended to live longer. (These medications, known as bile-acid sequestrants, have already been approved by the federal Food and Drug Administration, but the researchers caution that more studies are needed to determine if the drugs are directly causing the benefits seen in patients.)
Rutkowski’s results suggest that targeting bile acids, or the underlying dysbiosis, could eventually improve outcomes for patients with metastatic HR+ cancer. “Because many of the patients who were on bile-acid sequestrants have health issues that tend to favor a worse prognosis for breast cancer, the survival of patients who were prescribed bile-acid sequestrants and who had metastatic breast cancer are extremely encouraging,” Rutkowski said. “Now we want to know if these existing, FDA-approved drugs can prevent the cancer from spreading in the first place. If that proves true, this could support the use of a well-tolerated class of drugs for the prevention of metastatic breast cancer.”
Source: University of Virginia Health System
