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Washington, D.C. — Researchers at Lombardi Cancer Center at Georgetown University Medical Center have found that an enzyme previously thought to be present predominantly in blood cells is also found in mammary glands, and appears to inhibit the growth of invasive, aggressive breast tumors. The study, authored by Lombardi researchers Susette Mueller, Ph.D., and Peter Coopman, Ph.D., will be published in the August 17 issue of the journal
Nature.
The enzyme, a protein tyrosine kinase called "Syk," is present in mammary glands and in non-cancerous lesions, but is absent in advanced tumors, researchers found. When researchers used gene-transfer technology to put the enzyme back into the malignant cancer cells, it acted as a tumor suppressor by blocking the growth of the tumor cells and by stopping the spread of the cancer cells.
"We're very excited about the potential of the Syk tyrosine kinase to be used as a tool to block the aggressive spread of breast cancer," Mueller said. "We will need to do more extensive research to determine, for example, whether all breast tumors might respond to the effects of Syk gene transfer and whether it would be toxic to other tissues, but this preliminary finding is very encouraging."
Researchers discovered the presence of the Syk enzyme and its unexpected function as a tumor suppressor while working on a related project, funded by the National Institutes of Health, to study tumor invasion and metastasis.
The Syk enzyme may have implications for allergy sufferers as well, Mueller said, although in those cases the treatment would involve controlling the action of the enzyme as opposed to reintroducing it.
Studies are planned over the next several years to determine which tumors might benefit from possible treatment with Syk, and to further explore the potency of Syk action upon aggressive tumors.
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