Switching off the spread of triple-negative breast cancer
Dr Robert Weatheritt
Garvan Institute of Medical Research
$448,283
2021-2023
Background
Triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) is an aggressive form of cancer that accounts for around 10-20% of breast cancer cases. There are no treatments that specifically target this form of the disease and survival rates are lower than for other breast cancer types.
The research
Dr Weatheritt’s and his team have discovered a molecular switch in triple-negative breast cancer cells that, when activated, promotes the spread of cancer to other parts of the body. In this project, the team will conduct pre-clinical experiments to test ways of turning this switch off using gene-editing.
The impact
The team hope their research will lead to clinical trials for much-needed targeted treatments for triple-negative breast cancer.