New test identifies cancer patients to benefit from 10p-a-day diabetes drug

Scientists have developed a new test which can identify which breast cancer patients could benefit from a 10p-a-day diabetes drug.

They used a new method based on the ‘food’ cancer cells eat to predict which patients would have poor prognosis. They suggest these patients could benefit from metformin, a cheap and safe diabetes drug that could be a revolutionary cancer treatment.

The findings come from the Breakthrough Breast Cancer Research Unit at The University of Manchester and Thomas Jefferson University in the USA and are published today (Friday) in the journal Cell Cycle.

Professor Michael Lisanti, from the Breakthrough Breast Cancer Research Unit at The University of Manchester, said: “We’ve shown that the saying, ‘you are what you eat’ holds true for cancer. The food cancer cells consume is crucial to how well a patient does and what treatment they need.

“If cancer cells are consuming high-energy food, this makes a tumour more aggressive and harder to treat. However, they could benefit from metformin, which cuts off this fuel supply. There is more work to do but this test could be an important new way of tailoring treatments to patients need, across a range of cancers.”

Professor Lisanti’s team first looked at cells in the laboratory and fed them high-energy food, known as lactates and ketones. They found which genes were expressed based on this fuel supply, and developed a gene signature based on this.

They then looked at 219 hormonal breast cancer patients and studied which cancer cells fed on ketones and lactates. This food comes both from cancer cells and healthy cells nearby. They found those patients with cancer cells that consumed high levels of ketones and lactates were more likely to have their disease return, for it to spread to other organs and to die. The test combines the gene signature with the ketone and lactate food supply. This could both show which patients are likely to have a poor prognosis – with those same patients potentially benefiting from metformin.

Professor Anthony Howell, Director of the Breakthrough Breast Cancer Research Unit in Manchester, said: “This is terrifically exciting. It is a step towards having each patient get the right treatment for them – what we call personalised medicine. We are looking at a new way to separate patients based on who should respond well to the treatments we have, and who might need something different.

“It is particularly encouraging that some of those treatments might already be in the doctor’s drug cabinet, and cheap to prescribe. We have some way to go but we hope that drugs like metformin will be saving lives of breast cancer patients over the next few years.”

Ends

Notes for editors

Breakthrough Breast Cancer

• Breakthrough Breast Cancer is a pioneering charity dedicated to the prevention, treatment and ultimate eradication of breast cancer fighting on three fronts: research, campaigning and education. 
• Breakthrough Breast Cancer funds ground-breaking research, campaign for better services and treatments and raise awareness of breast cancer.  Through this work the charity believes passionately that breast cancer can be beaten and the fear of the disease removed for good. Find more information at breakthrough.org.uk

Breast Cancer

• Breast cancer is the most commonly diagnosed cancer in the UK – nearly 48,000 women and around 300 men are diagnosed every year
• One in eight women in the UK will develop breast cancer at some point in their lifetime
• The good news is that more women than ever in the UK are surviving breast cancer thanks to better awareness, better treatments and better screening

For further information contact:

Richard Purnell
Press Office
Breakthrough Breast Cancer

Tel: 020 7025 2432
Mob: 07778 682001
Email: press@breakthrough.org.uk

Or Aeron Haworth
Media Relations
Faculty of Medical and Human Sciences
The University of Manchester

Tel: 0161 275 8383
Mob: 07717 881563
Email: aeron.haworth@manchester.ac.uk