A protein may help brain tumor cells resist two cancer drugs
Original title: Trefoil Factor 1 contributes to Paclitaxel and Lapatinib resistance in brain metastatic breast cancer cells.
How far along is this research?
- Lab cells
- Animals
- Review
- Tested in people
This was done on cells in a lab, not in people. It is a very early step.
This was only done in cells grown in a lab dish.
The short version
In lab dishes, turning down one protein made breast cancer cells respond better to two drugs.
What was studied. Researchers worked with breast cancer cells that had spread to the brain, grown in the lab. They slowly raised the drug dose until the cells stopped responding to Paclitaxel or Lapatinib.
What they found. The cells that stopped responding had much more of a protein called TFF1. They also had more of the proteins that pump drugs back out of the cell. When the team blocked TFF1, the cells responded to the drugs a bit better again.
What this means, and what it doesn't
What it could mean: This points to one possible reason some brain tumors stop responding to these drugs. If TFF1 turns out to matter, it could become a target for new treatments later on.
What it doesn't mean: This was done only in cells in a dish, not in people. No one has shown that blocking TFF1 helps a patient. Even in the dish, the drugs worked only partly better, not fully. This is early lab work, and it is not a cure or a treatment you can ask for today.
Source: PubMed, September 28, 2026 · Read the original
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