Drug for Advanced Breast Cancer Promising

A drug that has shown promise in treating sarcoma, lung and brain cancers may also be effective in treating breast cancer, a U.S. study found.

Researchers at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn., say that Panzem, or 2-methoxyestradiol, also known as 2ME2, is in clinical trials by other researchers as a treatment for various cancers.

Corresponding author of the study Muzaffer Cicek, a cell biologist in endocrine research at the Mayo Clinic, said 2ME2 is derived from estrogen and works by suppressing tumor growth and blocking the formation of new blood vessels that feed tumors.

2ME2 could benefit patients because this single drug essentially combines the effects of chemotherapy, which destroys cancer cells, and antiangiogenesis drugs, which destroy blood vessels that feed tumors, Cicek said in a statement.

The study, based on mouse models and published in Cancer Research, described 2ME2 as an attractive candidate for controlling tumor growth, metastasis to bone and bone disorders, such as osteolysis caused by the spread of breast cancer to bone.

The Mayo Clinic study delivers 2ME2 by injection and in a lower dose — eight times lower than the comparable oral version used in mouse models.