Cancer

Mouse studies suggest inhibiting BPTF could help treat breast cancer and melanoma. In co-cultures of tumor cells and spleen-derived CD8⁺ T cells from mouse models of breast cancer and melanoma, knockdown of BPTF in cancer cells increased T cell cytotoxicity towards the cancer cells compared with normal BPTF expression. In a mouse model of breast cancer, Gemzar gemcitabine plus tumor-specific BPTF knockdown decreased tumor growth compared with Gemzar plus normal BPTF expression. In a mouse model of metastatic melanoma, tumor-specific BPTF knockdown decreased tumor growth compared with normal BPTF expression. Next steps could include testing BPTF inhibitor combination therapies in additional models...