Reduction in Mortality in Breast Cancer Patients: Outcome of Drug Interactions
Reporter: Aviva Lev-Ari, PhD, RN
Drug interactions using gene-expression data: common molecular pathways that might account for drug pairs with apparent synergistic effects, searching for drug-protein interactions in the twoXAR company’s database.
“This is a holistic look at the data — EHR, gene expression, protein targets of drugs — all in one analysis,”
Study reveals drug interactions that may reduce mortality in breast cancer patients
Stanford researchers found that certain drug combinations were associated with lower mortality rates among breast cancer patients, pointing to potential drug targets and new ways of thinking about known diseases.
Nigam Shah
Patient health records revealed two drug combinations that may reduce mortality rates in breast cancer patients, according to a study led by researchers at the Stanford University School of Medicine.
The drugs involved were commonly used noncancer drugs that turned out to be associated with a longer average survival rate in breast cancer patients.
The study was published online Dec. 9 in the Journal of the American Medical Informatics Association. The lead author is Stanford postdoctoral scholar Yen Low, PhD. The senior author is Nigam Shah, MBBS, PhD, associate professor of medicine and of biomedical data science.
“So we ran the analysis, and we found a few drug combinations that seemed to associate with better survival,” said Shah.
‘How do we know it’s true?’
Specifically, there were three pairs of drug types. The two combinations in Red are impplicated with improved survivability.
- anti-inflammatory drugs, such as aspirin or naproxen, and blood-lipid modifiers, such as statins;
- lipid modifiers and drugs such as fluticasone used to treat asthma like conditions; and
- anti-inflammatories and anti cancer hormone antagonists — typically, drugs that suppress the synthesis of estrogen.
SOURCE
2012pharmaceutical
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