Gene discovery might help to stop the progression or reverse tumor growth in lobular breast cancer

Times Online- Scientists have identified a genetic error that drives a form of breast cancer, opening the way to new therapies for women with the disease.

Lobular breast cancer accounts for between 10 and 15 per cent of all breast cancer cases and are very difficult to treat. At present, lobular tumors are treated with hormone-blocking drugs but the cancer returns in about 30 per cent of women.

Researchers at the Institute of Cancer Research, in London, found extra genes in lobular breast cancer cells. Half the cancers carried extra copies of the gene FGFR1, which is responsible for a protein of the same name and is involved in promoting cell division. An excess of FGFR1 sends this process out of control.

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