THE CHALLENGE
After a positive diagnosis for a BRCA1 or BRCA2 mutation, patients are left with few medical options they can pursue, some as severe as a prophylactic mastectomy. Patients negative for BRCA1 and/or BRCA2 mutations, still may have DNA hypermethylation of the BRCA1 and BRCA2 genes and develop breast cancer.
About 12% of the general population will develop breast cancer sometime during their lives. |
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Together BRCA1 and BRCA2 mutations account for about 9% of all breast cancer. |
3 out of 24 women will be diagnosed with Breast Cancer in their lifetime. |
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There are currently 6 hallmarks of cancer. Recently, aberrant DNA has been suggested as a new hallmark of cancer. |
“ Our new technology, involving the incorporation of a demethylating enzyme to demethylate the BRCA1 and BRCA2 genes, is a method that serves as a better alternative to the current method of cancer therapy that harms both cancerous and healthy cells.”
OUR APPROACH
Today many cancer biologists concur that DNA methylation, the process in which enzymes attach methyl groups to cytosine residues, silence tumor suppressor genes and thus leads to breast cancer. To correct this epigenetic mutation, we propose the administration of DNA demethylase via a zinc finger domain, designed to specifically target the hypermethylated BRCA genes. This therapy, which avoids killing both healthy cells and cancerous cells, a problem with current technology, provides a treatment option to pursue to preclude the onset of breast cancer.
