Cancer treatment has been boosted by the findings of a study that shows a single drug can prove effective in combating breast cancer in two different ways.
It is hoped that this development will herald a "two-in-one" treatment for breast cancer that could yield greater results and create a situation where patients can take fewer drugs.
The report is published in Cancer Research and was conducted at the Breakthrough Breast Cancer Research Centre based at the Institute of Cancer Research.
It was led by Professor Mitch Dowsett and Dr Lesley-Ann Martin, and was funded by the combined efforts of Avon Cosmetics, The Mary-Jean Mitchell Green Foundation and Novartis Pharma.
Dr Susana Banerjee, a member of the team, commented: "We found one compound could launch a two-pronged attack on some cancer cells.
"Although the drug we researched, PTK/ZK, is no longer in development, this unique discovery raises the very exciting possibility that we might be able to intentionally engineer drugs to target two distinct biological pathways in the future."
At the end of last month (May 31st), Breakthrough Breast Cancer researchers expressed their satisfaction with the results of a trial for a hereditary breast cancer drug.
