Figuring out which genes are essential to cancer cells’ survival and advising drug developers to target those genes is an approach that has led to life-saving drugs like Herceptin.
However, 95 percent of compounds that cure cancer in lab mice fail when they are tested in human clinical trials, according to STAT.
The study, published in Science Translational Medicine, found that five genes previously thought to be critical to the survival of melanoma, ovarian, colorectal and breast cancer had no effect on the survival of the cancer cells. This indicated that many compounds being tested on patients may be ineffective.
Overall, the study found that many cancer drugs are aiming at the wrong molecular target and as a result, experimental cancer drugs may be succeeding in unintended ways.
Read the full report here.
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