October 25, 2022
Faculty of Pharmacy, Keio University
A research group from Keio University, the National Cancer Center Hospital, the National Cancer Center Hospital East, and the National Center for Global Health and Medicine has discovered that red blood cell parameters (red blood cell count, hematocrit, or hemoglobin) and BRCA1/2 mutations before starting treatment can predict the onset of severe anemia caused by olaparib therapy. This study is the result of a multi-institutional collaborative research group including Ryota Tashiro, a third-year student in the Doctoral Programs at the Graduate School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Keio University; Associate Professor Hitoshi Kawazoe and Professor Tomonori Nakamura of the Faculty of Pharmacy; and three institutions that lead cancer treatment in Japan: the National Cancer Center Hospital, the National Cancer Center Hospital East, and the National Center for Global Health and Medicine.
We now live in an era where one in two people will develop cancer, and one in three will die from it. In particular, breast cancer affects one in nine Japanese women. Olaparib therapy is a standard treatment for various cancers, including breast and ovarian cancer. Anemia is one of the frequent side effects of olaparib therapy, but it is not known which patients are more susceptible. Therefore, the early detection and treatment management of "high-risk patients" are extremely important. The results of this study are expected to lead to the early detection and treatment management of these "high-risk patients."
The results of this study were published in the online edition of the international academic journal "Frontiers in Oncology" on October 4, 2022.
Please see below for the full press release.