New insights into mechanisms of breast cancer development and resistance to therapy

Why does breast cancer develop and how come certain patients are resistant to established therapies' Researchers from the University of Basel have gained new insights into the molecular processes in breast tissue. They identified the tumor suppressor LATS as a key player in the development and treatment of breast cancer. The journal Nature has published the results today. All breast cancers are not created equal. In up to 70 percent of all breast cancers, the tumor has receptors for the hormone estrogen. Today, these estrogen-receptor-positive cancers can be treated relatively well. Because these tumors need estrogen for their growth, the receptor is the target of a number of drugs that interfere with estrogen expression, bind to the receptor or speed up its degeneration.