Reginato and his colleagues studied established cells from patients with estrogen-independent breast cancer, the most aggressive form of the disease, which does not respond well to current treatments. The researchers found that compared to normal mammary cells, all the breast cancer cells contained elevated levels of O-GlcNAc, as well as increased levels of the enzyme responsible for adding this sugar to protein.

When they reduced the levels of the O-GlcNAc enzyme, or blocked its activity with a drug, they reduced the growth of breast cancer and also blocked the invasion. In addition, by reducing the enzyme levels, they also reduced levels of a protein known as FoxM1, which is known to play a critical role in controlling cancer growth and spread.

The Drexel researchers and collaborators are now working to develop more potent chemicals to target the O-GlcNAc enzyme, a potential new therapeutic target for treating breast cancer and possibly other cancers.

We looked at cancer databases and found that this enzyme is also elevated in other types of cancers. said Reginato. Our next step will be to study those cancers more closely to determine if we can achieve the same effect.

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