A recent study published in Cell Death and Differentiation concluded that a protein that could prevent metastasis and recurrence of breast cancer has been identified. The absence of receptors for estrogen, progesterone, and Her2 in triple-negative breast cancer makes hormone therapies unsuccessful. Because of this lack of therapies, the researchers examined a family of protein kinase enzymes, specifically, atypical protein kinase c lambda/iota signaling during the invasive phase of triple-negative breast cancer with tissue samples of breast cancer that had spread to the liver, lung, and other organs. They found that atypical protein kinase c lambda/iota, which is known to influence cell growth, was highly expressed and phosphorylated in metastatic breast cancer.
To further test the relationship, they depleted the protein in a line of triple-negative breast cancer cells known to be highly invasive and metastatic and found that depleting the protein significantly slowed the breast cancer tumor in mice. Researchers said “We have been able to show that this protein is highly expressed in metastatic triple-negative breast cancer, and when we are depleting it from triple-negative cancer cells, we found that the cancer cells are not metastasizing.,The tumor growth is slowing down giving us an opportunity for a targeted therapy. “ “Targeting this protein might prevent metastasis and recurrence of breast cancer.”