Improved screening techniques, as well as revised treatment protocols, have led to a decrease in breast cancer mortality rates of western countries, particularly in younger age groups. Even so, breast cancer remains the principal cause of cancer mortality in European women. Similar to many other cancers, the causes of breast cancer are yet to be fully discovered. However, various risk factors including gender, age, genetic predisposition, hormonal influences, alcohol consumption, cigarette smoking, as well as obesity, have been identified to contribute to its development.

Breast cancer is described as being clinically heterogeneous; this means that different patients may suffer from different types of the disease. Its classification allows a more focused drug treatment and assessment for individual patients. Breast cancer is commonly associated with a malfunction of specific processes occurring within cells. These are known to promote cell survival, multiplication and growth, all of which encourage the onset of cancer.

Two of these cellular processes were recently studied in intricate detail at the University of Malta, as part of a doctoral project funded by the Malta Government Scholarship Scheme (2013). The main aim of this research, carried out using breast cancer cell models, was to investigate how different types of breast cancer cells respond to novel types of treatment.

Exposure of the cells to the chemical under research showed encouraging results and identified some types of breast cancer to be highly susceptible, showing a significant cancer cell death rate. Our research indicated that two breast cancer types show an even greater cell death upon the addition of a second chemical product which is also known to target the studied pathways.

This combinatory approach resulted in an enhanced response to therapy. Moreover, it was shown that lower amounts of each chemical could be used to achieve the same amount of cellular death than would have otherwise been required if either were to be used on its own. Such an approach tends to minimise any potential unwanted effects associated with the use of a high concentration of each product individually.

The project further studied the influence of one of our novel treatments on the behaviour of major breast cancer genes, together with other genes which are also involved in the disease. This contributed to identifying new cellular processes which in the future could be the targets of new medicines for breast cancer.

This work establishes the first steps towards assessing the effects of novel treatment approaches for breast cancer, and may provide the foundation for the development of safer and more effective therapies in the management of this disease.

Dr Vanessa Petroni recently graduated with a PhD in molecular oncology, and is currently furthering her training through post-doctoral research at the Faculty of Medicine and Surgery, University of Malta.

Did you know!

• There are more than 400 types of smell receptors in the human nose. Each can respond to multiple different odour molecules, and each type of odorant can also activate multiple receptors.

• Humans can detect five basic tastes – sweet, sour, bitter, salty and the savoury ‘umami’. New research shows that we have more than the five basic tastes: starch, fat and calcium are among the leading candidates.

• ‘Taste’ is a bundle of different sensations: it is not only the qualities of taste perceived by the tongue, but also the smell, texture and temperature of a meal that are important.

For more trivia see: www.um.edu.mt/think

Sound bites

• Controlled meal-skipping or intermittent caloric restriction might provide health benefits: Food is like a pharmaceutical compound that affects the brain. Diet, exercise and sleep have the potential to alter our brain health and mental function. This raises the exciting possibility that changes in diet are a viable strategy for enhancing cognitive abilities, protecting the brain from damage and counteracting the effects of ageing. Omega-3 fatty acids – found in salmon, walnuts and kiwi fruit – provide many benefits, including learning and memory improvement and helping to fight against mental disorders such as depression and mood disorders, schizophrenia and dementia. Children who had increased amounts of omega-3 fatty acids performed better in school, in reading and in spelling, and had fewer behavioural problems. Getting omega-3 fatty acids from food rather than from capsule supplements can be more beneficial, providing additional nutrients.

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/07/080709161922.htm

• Glutamate – essential food for the brain: Unlike other organs, the brain cannot draw its energy from lipids, an energy resource widely present in the body. The blood-brain barrier, which protects it from the pathogens and toxins circulating in the blood, indeed limits the passage of these lipids. Moreover, while most of the organs in the human body have the ability to store glucose by increasing their mass, the brain, prisoner of the cranial bones, cannot count on these variations in volume. Unable to store its food, it depends on sugar supplied in real-time by the rest of the body. This distribution of energy is controlled by the liver. Devoid of the energy supplied by cerebral glutamate, the brain sends signals to the liver to requisition a compensatory proportion of glucose, at the expense of the rest of the body. Disturbances in central glutamate homeostasis have been associated with neurological disorders such as schizophrenia and epilepsy.

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2015/10/151001125653.htm

• To find out some more interesting science news, listen in on Radio Mocha every Monday and Friday at 1pm on Radju Malta 2.

Sign up to our free newsletters

Get the best updates straight to your inbox:
Please select at least one mailing list.

You can unsubscribe at any time by clicking the link in the footer of our emails. We use Mailchimp as our marketing platform. By subscribing, you acknowledge that your information will be transferred to Mailchimp for processing.