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New UK drug trial for hereditary breast and ovarian cancer

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Summary of story from Netdoctor, August 17, 2011

Scientists in Oxford, UK, have launched a clinical trial for women with advanced breast or ovarian cancer due to inherited gene faults, using a drug called 6MP.

The drug is already used to treat leukaemia and researchers believe it may be effective in breast and ovarian cancer patients with faults in their BRCA genes.

Around 15 per cent of breast and ovarian cancer cases are caused by faults in the BRCA1 or BRCA2 genes.

Women who inherit faults in both genes have a 45 to 65 per cent chance of developing breast cancer before the age of 70, and a 20 to 45 per cent chance of developing ovarian cancer.

Dr Shibani Nicum, a gynaecology specialist at the Oxford Experimental Cancer Medicine Centre, revealed that drug resistance is still a problem in women with cancers caused by these gene faults, despite new therapies.

She said: “We hope that the very encouraging results we have seen in early laboratory studies involving 6MP will lead to increased treatment options for these patients in the future.”

BRCA1 and BRCA2 are just two of the gene faults that may increase a woman’s risk of breast cancer.

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