Scientists have discovered a rare mutant of protein in human cells that is potentially capable of promoting breast cancer within itself.
Researchers at the University of Manchester believe that targeting this variant called RAC1B could potentially dramatically increase the effectiveness of treatment. The efficacy of chemotherapy may increase if the altered type of this protein is somehow reduced in the body.
According to experts, this mutation can play an important role in making cancer cell resistant drugs for treatment.
Research also revealed that the absence of this protein causes cancerous tumors to not form and there are no harmful effects of not having it on the organs.
Dr Ahmed Ocher, a research fellow at breast cancer now at the University of Manchester, said that for the first time in the study, it has been seen that without RAC1B, breast cancer stem cells cannot make tumors and these cancerous cells become more vulnerable to chemotherapy, which makes the treatment more effective.
"RAC1B isn’t essential for healthy cells, so targeting this protein with new cancer treatments doesn’t do any serious harm," he said.
To demonstrate this, scientists transplanted breast cancer cells into mice.
The scientists found that cells that did not have RAC1B had no tumors even after 100 days.
In addition, lab-grown breast cancer cells without RAC1B could not regrow when treated with doxorubicin (a chemotherapy drug).
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