Blocking the spread of triple-negative breast cancer
Background
Triple–negative breast cancer is an aggressive subtype that accounts for around 15-20% of all breast cancer cases in Australia. There are no targeted treatments for this form of breast cancer, so the risk of the cancer spreading to other parts of the body – commonly the lungs, brain or bone – is much higher.
The research
A/Professor Croucher and his team are investigating new treatment options for triple–negative breast cancers that have spread. They are concentrating on a specific pathway of signals between cells that are highly active in triple–negative breast cancer but not found in healthy cells. This signaling pathway is essential for the growth and spread of triple–negative cancer cells, so the team is looking for a way to block this activity and two drugs are already showing promise. In this project, the team will conduct pre-clinical tests with each of these drugs to see how effective they are at stopping the spread of triple negative breast cancer.
The impact
The two drugs A/Professor Croucher and his team will test in this project are already approved for use in the treatment of other cancers. If their pre-clinical tests are successful, the team will be able to rapidly translate their work into a much-needed clinical trial for patients with advanced triple–negative breast cancer.