Researchers identified a new role for heat shock protein 90 (HSP90) in cancer predisposition and treatment resistance. HSP90 buffers BRCA1 mutations, masking their negative effects and delaying breast cancer onset. This buffering creates a vulnerability in cancer cells, revealing a potential therapeutic strategy in which targeting HSP90 could be used to overcome treatment resistance.
The study, led by Georgios Karras, Ph.D., associate professor of Genetics, identifies predictive features of HSP90 buffering in patients with specific mutations in BRCA1 that may help personalize diagnosis, prognosis and combination treatments to improve outcomes.