My Breakthrough
Investigating how breast cancers spread
One of the most important factors in determining whether a breast cancer patient may relapse is whether the disease has spread.
The process by which breast cancer cells break away from the original tumour in the breast, and eventually establish themselves in other parts of the body, is known as metastasis.
Normally cells stick to their neighbours and the basement membrane (the layer of tissue that cells 'sit on') through the action of adhesion proteins. To invade, cells must develop the ability to break away from their neighbours, pass through the basement membrane and the extra-cellular matrix, enter the blood system and then bind to new structures elsewhere in the body.
Understanding these processes in minute detail is necessary for developing new methods to help diagnose, treat and prevent breast cancer from spreading.
Normally cells stick to their neighbours and the basement membrane (the layer of tissue that cells 'sit on') through the action of adhesion proteins. To invade, cells must develop the ability to break away from their neighbours, pass through the basement membrane and the extra-cellular matrix, enter the blood system and then bind to new structures elsewhere in the body.
Understanding these processes in minute detail is necessary for developing new methods to help diagnose, treat and prevent breast cancer from spreading.
Examples of our current research:
