Chemo cocktail may block breast cancer

CHICAGO, Oct. 9 (UPI) -- A U.S. researcher says he has found a way to "fence in" cancer in the breast so it does not spread.

Dr. Seth Corey of the Feinberg School of Medicine and director of the pediatric oncology program at the Robert H. Lurie Comprehensive Cancer Center of Northwestern University, said lab tests showed a "chemo cocktail" combining a drug normally used to treat leukemia -- dasatinib -- with a common breast cancer drug -- doxorubicin -- inhibited breast cancer cell invasion by half.

Dasatinib targets an enzyme called the Src kinase, which is believed to play a key role in breast cancer invasion and metastases, Corey said.

"This is an entirely new way of targeting a cancer cell," Corey said in a statement.

"Perhaps this drug could be given to prevent invasion from happening in the first place. This might keep the disease in check and prevent it from progressing."

His findings were reported in the British Journal of Cancer.