Breast cancer drugs 'could treat lung cancer'

Experimental drugs already used to treat
breast cancer may also fight lung cancer,
research reveals.
Non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC), the
commonest type of lung cancer, is the leading
cause of cancer deaths worldwide. Few drug
treatments exist.
Scientists at the Institute of Cancer Research in
London discovered breast cancer drugs called
PARP inhibitors worked in up to half of NSCLC
tumours.
In the lab, the drugs killed cancerous cells and
left healthy ones intact.
Experts say more studies and clinical trials are
needed, but they were excited by this early
work, which will be published soon in the
journal Oncogene.
Study author Dr Chris Lord said: "This study
suggests that PARP inhibitors, treatments
already in clinical trials to treat breast and
ovarian cancer, could also be a promising
treatment for patients with certain forms of
lung cancer.
"Lung cancer is hard to treat and
unfortunately has very poor survival, so
there's an urgent need to find new treatments.
'Save more lives'
"Our research opens up an exciting new route,
by showing how we could repurpose drugs
originally designed for use against other forms
of cancer."
Dr Harpal Kumar, of Cancer Research UK,
which funded the work, said: "Lung cancer is
the UK's biggest cancer killer but it's proven
to be one of the hardest cancers to study and
survival rates remain poor.
"We're making substantial investments in lung
cancer research to discover better ways to
diagnose and treat the disease. Our hope is
that studies like this will lead to more effective
treatments for lung cancer patients and
ultimately save more lives."
Lung cancer is the most common cause of
cancer death in the UK, accounting for more
than a fifth of all cancer deaths.
More than eight out of 10 cases of lung cancer
are NSCLC - more than 33,000 cases per year
in the UK.