My Breakthrough
Breakthrough Research Unit, Manchester
The Breakthrough Breast Cancer Research Unit at The University of Manchester will focus on developing new ways to detect and prevent early breast cancer.
Working in partnership
Our Breakthrough Research Unit in Manchester is being set up by Anthony Howell, Professor of Medical Oncology, Nigel Bundred, Professor of Surgical Oncology and Charles Streuli, Professor of Cell Biology.The unit’s research
The Breakthrough Research Unit, Manchester, will be investigating molecular changes that take place at the earliest stages of breast cancer formation. Understanding the nature of these changes is essential if we are to develop new treatments and methods of diagnosis.Every breast cell constantly receives signals from surrounding cells and tissues. These signals control the cell’s growth and enable it to carry out its normal functions. A breakdown in the communication between a cell and its environment is one of the first steps in cancer development.
Most breast cancers are formed from epithelial cells – these line each of the thousands of ducts found in the breast. In a healthy breast, the epithelial cells are physically connected to one another and also respond to chemical signals from other non-epithelial cells in their local environment. Changes in a cell’s ability to listen and respond to the signals it receives can allow it to multiply out of control – potentially causing a tumour to form. Cancer cells also produce their own signalling molecules, which affect the cells around them and alter the breast’s normal structure.
The future
The Breakthrough Research Unit, Manchester, will investigate how interactions between cells and their environment become defective in the early stages of breast cancer development. Their overriding aim is to use the information to identify new ways to prevent, detect and treat the disease.Page last updated 12 September 2007
