Copper may be key for cancer treatment

A need for copper could be the Achilles’ heel of some cancers and It may allow them to be tackled with drugs used to block copper absorption in patients suffering from a rare disease The Telegraph reports. Cancers with a mutation in the BRAF gene need copper to promote their growth, according to the journal Nature.

They include melanoma, the most dangerous form of skin cancer that kills more than 2,000 people in Britain each year. The BRAF gene is involved in regulating cell division and “differentiation” – the process by which cells become more specialised. Aggressive cancer cells are highly undifferentiated. When mutated, BRAF causes cells to grow in an out-of-control fashion. laboratory experiments conducted by Prof Counter’s team showed blocking the copper uptake of tumor cells with the mutation suppressed their growth. Similar results were achieved with drugs used to treat patients with Wilson disease, a genetic disorder in which copper builds up in body tissues and damages the brain and liver.

“Oral drugs used to lower copper levels in Wilson disease could be repurposed to treat BRAF-driven cancers like melanoma, or perhaps even others like thyroid or lung cancer,” said the report’s co-author Dr Donita Brady, also from Duke University. A clinical trial has been approved, permitting the Duke team to test copper-lowering drugs in melanoma patients.

Follow NEWS.am Medicine on Facebook and Twitter