According to the Canadian Cancer Society, one in eight women in Canada will be diagnosed with breast cancer during their lifetime. Despite major advances in screening and treatment, stage 4 breast cancer remains particularly difficult to treat, with a five-year survival rate of only about 23% in Canada.

Researchers such as Dr. Julie St-Pierre from the University of Ottawa and Dr. Peter Siegel at McGill University are focusing on the basic biology of cancer to uncover new treatment possibilities for these aggressive forms of breast cancer. Their recent work suggests that altering how cancer cells generate energy might help slow down the spread of the disease.

Their investigation began with mitochondria—the cell’s energy factories. “Mitochondria are central to cell metabolism,” explains Dr. St-Pierre. In cancer cells, mitochondria are highly adaptable, constantly changing their shape by fusing together or breaking apart to respond to stress and energy demands. “We wanted to understand whether the structure of mitochondria affected how breast cancer cells spread,” says Dr. Siegel.

In the lab, they noticed that cancer cells which spread more easily had fragmented mitochondria, while less aggressive cells had fused mitochondria. To dig deeper, the researchers identified a specific gene expression pattern associated with fused mitochondria. When they analyzed a large dataset of human breast cancers, they found that patients whose tumors had this pattern generally lived longer.

The team then searched for existing drugs that might promote mitochondrial fusion in breast cancer cells. One promising option was leflunomide, a drug commonly used to treat rheumatoid arthritis. When tested in the lab, leflunomide promoted mitochondrial fusion and significantly slowed the spread of breast cancer in mice—offering a hopeful new direction for future treatments.

Source : https://healthenews.mcgill.ca/powering-off-cancer-slowing-down-the-spread-of-aggressive-breast-cancers-by-targeting-their-cellular-powerhouse/