Scientists predict cell changes that affect Breast Cancer growth

Using a broad spectrum of analytical tools, scientists from the Florida campus of The Scripps Research Institute (TSRI) have shown how sometimes small, often practically imperceptible, structural changes in a key breast cancer receptor are directly linked to regulating molecules and can produce predictable effects in curbing or accelerating cancer growth.
This predictive statistical approach, published recently in the journal Molecular Systems Biology, moves science one step closer to the development of more effective structure-based drug design to treat the disease.
"Our long-term goal," said team leader Kendall Nettles, an associate professor at TSRI, "is to be able to predict proliferative or anti-proliferative activity of receptor molecule complexes by identifying structural changes that lead to specific outcomes. In many cases, we can identify structural features that could help guide more effective drug development."
To identify the root of estrogen receptor (ERα) cell signaling that drives breast cancer cell proliferation, Nettles and his colleagues synthesized more than 240 estrogen receptor binding molecules ("ligands") that led the cancer to proliferate, using structural analysis to determine the basis for receptor activity.
Many current drugs target signaling proteins like the estrogen receptor. For example, the drug tamoxifen (Nolvadex®, AstraZeneca) blocks the estrogen receptor's proliferative effects of naturally occurring estrogen in breast cancer cells, but can increase the risk of uterine cancer.