SCIENTISTS here have found a mutation in a gene that makes some cancer drugs less effective, as well as a solution to tackle this problem. <\/p>\n
This mutation appears in about 15% of East Asians, and to a lesser extent in other Asians, but is completely absent in Caucasians and Africans. <\/p>\n
A team of 55 researchers, led by Assoc Prof Ong Sin Tiong of Duke-NUS Graduate Medical School, found that targeted drugs to combat specific types of lung and blood cancers did not work as well in patients with the mutated gene. <\/p>\n
However, the shortcoming can be addressed by the addition of another drug that is currently not commercially available, but is used in clinical trials elsewhere. <\/p>\n
The existing targeted drugs, which block the growth and spread of the cancer by interfering with the molecules that cause the tumour to grow, are not cheap. <\/p>\n
The bill can come up to S$2,000 (RM4,800) to S$3,000 (RM7,200) a month for lung cancer patients, with the drug able to extend life by as much as 30 months. <\/p>\n
For leukaemia, the cost is S$4,000 (RM9,600) to S$5,000 (RM12,000) a month, with patients living a good-quality life for as long as a decade. <\/p>\n
However, in about 20% of patients with these forms of cancers, the drug benefit is not as good as it is for the rest. <\/p>\n
The teams findings have been published in Nature Medicine considered one of the the worlds top biomedical journals. <\/p>\n
Prof Patrick Casey, senior vice-dean for research at Duke-NUS Graduate Medical School, called the discovery spectacular. <\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Read more: SCIENTISTS here have found a mutation in a gene that makes some cancer drugs less effective, as well as a solution to tackle this problem. This mutation appears in about 15% of East Asians, and to a lesser extent in other Asians, but is completely absent in Caucasians and Africans Continue reading
\nGene mutation found<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"