Parkinson's Drug Could Help Prevent Breast Cancer

Early research suggests that benserazide, a drug that is currently being used to treat patients with Parkinson’s disease for their symptoms, can prevent breast cancer in women with mutations in the BRCA1 gene. Women with BRCA1 gene mutations are at higher risks for both breast and ovarian cancer. There are not any drugs currently on the market that have been shown to reduce this risk.

BRCA1 gene works to repair DNA that’s been damaged. However, when mutations occur to the BRCA1 gene, the repair process is inhibited, which can increase the risk of cancer.

While tamoxifen and raloxifene have been approved by the FDA for the prevention of breast cancer, researchers admit that there is limited information on how effective those drugs are for women with the BRCA1 gene mutation. Tamoxifen and raloxifene stop estrogen from acting on breast cells. The estrogen hormone can lead to the development of certain types of breast cancer.

Researchers at Stanford University implanted cancer cells with the BRCA1 gene mutation in mice. Mice not given the benserazide drug all developed breast tumors. However, 40 percent of the mice given the benserazide drug did not develop tumors at all.

Elizabeth Alli, the Stanford researcher leading the study, says, “The data out there for the efficacy of these drugs [among carriers of BRCA1 mutations] is controversial, and inconsistent,” said Alli. “So really it'd be ideal to identify new drugs that are more effective for this population.”

Alli said that the next step for researchers is to find out whether the benserazide drug can have similar results in mice genetically engineered to have BRCA1 gene mutations. There are no clinical trials in humans on the horizon, although because the drug is currently being used to treat Parkinson’s, the trial process could start more quickly.