Newly identified drug targets could open door for oesophageal cancer therapeutics

A new research has found that blocking two molecular pathways that send signals inside cancer cells could stave off oesophageal adenocarcinoma (EAC), the most common oesophageal malignancy in the United States.

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The study was conducted at the Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine. Researchers identified the pathways using advanced computational and genetic analyses of tumour biopsies from EAC patients. They found 80 percent of tumours had unusually active genes related to two specific pathways, and that exposing the cells to pathway inhibitors stymied EAC tumour growth in mice. The results of the study, published in Gastroenterology point to two signaling pathways (controlled by JNK and TGF-beta proteins, respectively) as contributing to EAC tumours.

The pathways represent molecular chain reactions that were overactive in patient tumour cells, but not in biopsies from patients with noncancerous oesophageal conditions, including Barrett's Oesophagus.