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A New Treatment for Triple Negative Breast Cancer Could Be Hiding In Plain Sight BY SCRUTINIZING BRE A ST cancer cell lines, tissue grafts and samples, as well as data from The Cancer Genome Atlas, researchers at The Graduate Center of The City University of New York (CUNY) and Hunter College, along with colleagues at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center and The University of Chicago, found that most individuals with triple negative breast cancer harbored the proteins mtp53 and PARP. These proteins were abundant on replicating DNA in triple negative breast cancer tumors, indicating the proteins could be fueling tumor growth. A POTENTIALLY TRANSFORMATIVE ADVANCEMENT The researchers analyzed existing cancer drugs in search of agents that could be combined to target mtp53 and PARP and inhibit tumor growth. They identified the PARP inhibitor talazoparib and the chemotherapeutic agent temozolomide. The team's findings were published in the journal Cancer Research. If the combination treatment were to prevent cancer cell replication in animal models — animal testing is the research team's next investigatory step — a first targeted therapy for triple negative breast cancer would be closer to becoming a reality. That would be a boon for patients, especially black women, who account for a disproportionate number of triple negative breast cancer cases, according to CUNY. n BY THOMAS CROCKER IDENTIF YING THE POTENTIAL DRIVERS OF TUMOR GROW TH IN TRIPLE NEGATIVE BRE A ST CANCER MAY HAVE LED RESE ARCHERS TO A NOVEL TARGE TED THER APY FOR THE DISE A SE: A COMBINATION OF T WO E XISTING DRUGS. 059990060_InnoTech1_Soundwaves.indd 1 3/10/20 9:06 AM Innovative Solution Improves Implantable Device Communication BY THOMAS CROCKER RESE ARCHERS AT THE NATIONAl UNIvERSIT y OF SINGAPORE ARE CRE ATING INNOvATIvE WAyS TO IMPROvE COMMUNICATION WITH IMPl ANTABlE DE vICES. THE RESE ARCHERS DE TERMINED THAT A SHIRT PRINTED WITH SPECIAlly PAT TERNED CONDUCTIvE INK NOT ONly HElPS ElECTRONIC DE vICES MORE EFFICIENTly TR ANSMIT WIRElESS SIGNAlS BUT AlSO CONSERvES BAT TERy lIFE. ELECTRONIC MEDICAL IMPL ANTS use considerable energy to relay radio waves out of the body because the skin refl ects many of the waves' rays, confi ning the waves to the body, writes Chris Lee for Ars Technica. In a study published in the journal Physical Review Applied, Nationa l University of Singapore researchers devised a way to amplify wireless transmission using a shirt printed with patterns designed to modify evanescent waves created by the body's refl ection of the radio waves. BOOSTING THE SIGNAL "[T]a ilored diff ractive patterns placed on the surface of the body can enhance wireless transmission by nearly an order of magnitude via the conversion of eva- nescent waves generated by total internal refl ection into propagating waves that transmit into the far fi eld," the research- ers write. The researchers tested the shirt by plac- ing it on a dead pig containing a Bluetooth transmitter. The transmitter produced a stronger signa l and gained 20 hours of battery life compared with a transmitter inside a pig corpse that was not outfi tted with the shirt, Lee writes. The shirt could enhance the durability and effi ciency of electronic medical implants in the future, according to the researchers. n M D N E W S . C O M /// M D N E W S C E N T R A l P E N N S y lvA N I A ■ 2 0 2 0 I N N O v A T I O N T E C H N O l O G y ❰❰❰❰❰ 0 5