Researchers at Princeton University and The Cancer Institute of New Jersey have identified a gene associated with the poor prognosis of breast cancer, thus answering one of the biggest mysteries in cancer research and paving the way for new drugs that could thwart the gene’s destructive actions.

Lead author Yibin Kang, an assistant professor of molecular biology at Princeton said that by switching off this gene in breast cancer patients will reduce the chance of recurrence and, at the same time, decrease the risk of metastatic dissemination, two major reasons why breast cancer patients die from the disease.

The gene is called Metadherin or MTDH and is located in a small region of human chromosome 8. MTDH is responsible for the aggressive behavior of tumors, the study found. More exactly, tumors, which over-express the gene, are more likely to spread to the lungs, other vital organs and bones. These tumors were also found to be more resistant to some chemotherapy agents.

The study analyzed 250 breast tumor samples and found the gene “is amplified and over-expressed in over 30 to 40 percent of breast cancer cases. This indicates that new drugs against metadherin may potentially benefit a large population of breast cancer patients,” Kang said.

The study was published in the journal Cancer Cell. It was funded by a Department of Defense Era of Hope Scholar Award and grants from the national Institutes of Health, the American Cancer Society, the Susan G. Komen Foundation and the New Jersey Commission on Cancer Research

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