Breakthrough has already made important advances in understanding triple negative breast cancer. And now, we have opened an entire unit dedicated to researching this form of the disease.
What is triple-negative breast cancer?
Around 15 – 20% of breast cancers do not have hormone receptors or HER2 receptors. These are termed triple-negative. They tend to be more aggressive than other forms of breast cancer. They can also be difficult to treat because, lacking receptors, the tumours do not respond to targeted therapies such as Herceptin or to hormone treatments such as tamoxifen.
Triple-negative breast cancers occur more frequently in younger women and those of African ethnicity than other breast cancers.
What is Breakthrough doing about it?
This year, under the Directorship of Dr Andrew Tutt, we opened a research unit at Kings College London dedicated to improving the treatment of triple-negative breast cancer and its close relation, basal-like breast cancer.
By discovering more about these types of tumour, and the faulty molecules that cause their growth, we hope to develop treatments that target cancer cells and leave healthy cells unharmed.
In 2008, along with Cancer Research UK, we launched a clinical trial which aims to improve treatments for triple-negative breast cancers that spread to other parts of the body.
The trial will compare two forms of chemotherapy: carboplatin, not normally used to treat breast cancer, and docetaxel, the standard treatment. If successful, the trial could lead to carboplatin becoming part of a new tailored treatment for this disease.
Breakthrough’s Professor Clare Isacke has discovered that some triple-negative breast cancers over-produce a molecule called Endo180, which may encourage the disease to spread to other parts of the body. She is now looking to see if Endo180 can be used as a target for new treatments to prevent this spread, thus improving the chances of successful treatment.
For more information about clinical trials, visit www.cancerhelp.org.uk.
