A finding very instrumental in finding a cure for the dreaded disease. Whitney built on another study that involved aspirin as a potential drug for the treatment of cancer...
“ A new study found that aspirin seem to benefit those colon cancer patients, with a certain mutation in a gene called PIK3CA," she says. " They found that patients with this mutation who also took aspirin were less likely to suffer from cancer related death than those who did not. This finding is significant as it suggest that aspirin could potentially be useful in the treatment of cancer. What is even more exciting is the implication of this finding in the treatment of breast cancer— because these mutations are found in about 30 percent of breast cancers.”
But this theory alone is not enough. Whitney built on the idea. Here’ s what she found …
Aspirin
In short, Whitney’ s research found that aspirin, the simple inexpensive drug, the go-to drug of our parents and fore-parents may be significant in the treatment of cancers specifically colon and breast cancers.
" We observed that suboptimal doses of aspirin in combination with various PIK3CA inhibitors show enhanced suppression of breast cancer cell growth. We also observed that higher and more frequent doses of aspirin can delay tumor growth in a mouse model of breast cancer. Intrigued by these findings we then performed several experiments to try to understand how aspirin works in the context of mutant PIK3CA breast cancer.”
Their findings?
“ So far we have learned that mutant PIK3CA can improve the activity of proteins involved in processes like cell growth, survival and metabolism that can affect processes like cell movement, inflammation and blood vessel development. All of these processes have played a critical role in the growth and spread of cancer.”
Most importantly …
“ We have also learned that aspirin can block the activity of many of those mutant PIK3CA regulated proteins. This may explain in part why aspirin might have this beneficial effect,” Whitney discloses.“
Whitney emphasizes …
“ This is only a tip of the iceberg. More research still needs to be done using animal models and human clinical trials."
The St. Lucian research scientist recently began her postdoctoral fellowship at Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research in Cambridge, Massachusetts where she will focus on metastasis— the spread of cancer from its origin to other organs.
“ Metastasis accounts for most cancer-related deaths," she says. " I believe that the training and skills acquired at Harvard will be instrumental in developing my expertise in this part of cancer biology.”
We’ re incredibly proud of Manmay LaKay Whitney Henry and wish her all the success in the world. May a cure for cancer be found in our lifetime.