Researchers have reduced breast cancer metastasis to bone by using an experimental agent to inhibit ROCK (Rho-associated kinase), a protein that was found to be over-expressed in metastatic breast cancer. In a study in mice, a team of researchers from Tufts University reported that inhibiting ROCK in the earliest stages of breast cancer decreased metastatic tumor mass in bone by 77 percent and overall frequency of metastasis by 36 percent. The results suggest that ROCK may be a target for new drug therapies to reduce breast cancer metastasis. "While the primary tumor causes significant illness and requires treatment, metastasis accounts for over 90 percent of breast cancer-related deaths. There are no treatments to eradicate metastasis. Establishing ROCK's role in the spread of breast cancer and identifying agents to inhibit ROCK brings us one step closer to an approach that might reduce metastasis in the future," said senior author Dr. Michael Rosenblatt. Breast cancer is the second leading fatal cancer in women, and affects just under one in eight women in the United States. Bone is the most common site of breast cancer metastasis, affected three times more often than the lungs or liver. The study was published online on November 3 in Cancer Research. [Press release] [Cancer Research abstract]
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