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A mutation that causes resistence to chemotherapy treatment of lung cancer has been discovered
September 27, 1999Lung cancer, mainly caused by tobacco and inhaling radon gas, is the most lethal cancer in the western world. In Spain alone this disease causes around 15,000 deaths each year.
One of the most effective treatments against the most widespread of variations, non small cell lung cancer, is the treatment with Paclitaxel, a medication that significantly increases the survival chances of 45% of those affected. Paclitaxel works by blocking the beta-tubulin action, a protein that actively participates in the cell cicle constructing, by coupling with the alfa-tubulin, networks of microtubules that, among other things, allow the development of cell division. If the tubulin units do not couple correctly, such as happens when Paclitaxel is used, the cell cicle is interrupted. This prevents tumors from growing. However, there is still a significant percentage of patients who do not respond at all to this treatment.
A research team headed by Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona researchers and the Germans Trias i Pujol Hospital in Badalona, along with the participation by scientists at the Universidad Aut'³noma de Madrid, the Hospital Cl'nico de Madrid, Hospital Arnau de Vilanova, Valencia, and the Anderson Cancer Center, Houston in the US, have identified the mechanism that causes resistance to Paclitaxel. The researchers have observed that when patients show mutations in the gene that codifies beta-tubulin, a situation which happens in 30% of the cases, chemotherapy with Paclitaxel is completely ineffective. The mutations affect the dynamics of the microtubules in such a way that the medication cannot interrupt the cell cycle nor, consequently, the growth of tumors.
Therefore, the mutations in the gene that codifies the beta-tubulin represent a new resistence mechanism to chemotherapy with Paclitaxel that, according to statements by the researchers, could have more general implications concerning the survival of tumors being treated by chemotherapy. So, this discovery, recently published in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, could mean an improvement in the prognosis of the response and survival of persons with lung cancer faced with different therapy options.
Barcelona, Universitat Autònoma de
Therefore, the mutations in the gene that codifies the beta-tubulin represent a new resistence mechanism to chemotherapy with Paclitaxel that, according to statements by the researchers, could have more general implications concerning the survival of tumors being treated by chemotherapy. So, this discovery, recently published in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, could mean an improvement in the prognosis of the response and survival of persons with lung cancer faced with different therapy options.
Barcelona, Universitat Autònoma de
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