Mayo's ID Protentioal Breaskthough

Mayo Clinic researchers have identified a potential treatment for breast cancer metastasis that, if corroborated, could prove beneficial in many other cancer treatments.

That groundbreaking announcement was made in a paper published Dec. 9 in Nature Communications, a medical journal. However, the study's senior author Dr. Zhenkun Lou cautioned that more research is necessary.

The new Mayo study identifies a possible way to prevent the spread of cancer, called metastasis, typically through the lymph system or bloodstream. Perhaps more significantly, the class of drugs tested by Dr. Lou and his team are already approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.

The paper suggests that a key drug target, called CDK 4/6, regulates a cancer metastasis protein, dubbed SNAIL. Dr. Lou's research shows that drugs that inhibit CDK 4/6 could prevent the spread of triple-negative breast cancer.

"Metastasis is a hallmark of cancer and a leading cause of cancer death," Dr. Lou said. "Despite great progress in cancer therapy, the prevention of cancer metastasis is still an unfulfilled challenge."