Scientists have spent years on learning how to detect and treat breast cancer. The folks over at Wyss institute of Biologically Inspired Engineering at Harvard University have come up with a way to use a non-invasive therapy to prevent breast cancer from forming. In mice.

Breast cancer screenings may show early indications of cancer, but may never actually become cancer at all. Many of the women who undergo these tests still subject themselves to chemotherapy and radiation, both of which have many harmful side effects.

So the idea behind this new therapy is simple. Scientists studied the genes that become active when breast cancer appears and managed to narrow it down to one gene - HoxA1. They then created healthy breast tissue in a lab and create a short RNA string called siRNA that blocked that particular gene. They injected mice with it, and the cancer cells in the tissue reversed their growth, and reverted back to their previously healthy state.

The technique also took a step further by injecting mice that are predisposed to get breast cancer within them. They took the siRNA and put it inside nanoparticles and injected this into them. The mice never developed cancer and stayed healthy.

Since mice aren't humans, there's still a lot of testing that needs to be done. But having a method that potentially stops it at the start is great. Let's hope for the best.

Via Wyss Institute