Breast cancer research update

Thanks to continued investment in research, we are seeing progress in the fight against breast cancer. Today, over 8 in 10 people diagnosed with breast cancer survive 5 years beyond their diagnosis, compared to just 7 in 10 people only 20 years ago.

BREAST-PREDICT - the first Irish Cancer Society collaborative cancer research centre

BREAST-PREDICT is a country-wide collaboration between experts in the area of breast cancer research, funded by the Irish Cancer Society. This ‘virtual centre’ launched in October 2013 and will run until 2018. BREAST-PREDICT brings together a team of expert Irish researchers from six academic institutions across Ireland: UCD, TCD, RCSI, DCU, NUIG and UCC, as well as nationwide clinical trials group Cancer Trials Ireland. As a multi-disciplinary centre it unites breast cancer experts with different skills to work towards a common goal.

The centre collects information and tumour samples from nearly every breast cancer patient in the country, with their consent. Using these valuable resources, researchers will improve our understanding of how this disease can spread and become resistant to treatment, and find ways to combat this with new and better therapies.

Dr Claire Kilty is Programme Manager for BREAST-PREDICT, working specifically on communications, outreach and the sustainability of the Centre talks about the work that BREAST-PREDICT does in the fight against breast cancer.

Achievements so far

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The BREAST-PREDICT team

More than 2,500 patients have joined nine BREAST-PREDICT-affiliated clinical and translational studies to date across 13 Irish hospitals. These patients have consented to their samples being used for research studies. These trials are run through Cancer Trials Ireland. Patients and the public can access information on them through cancertrials.ie.

BREAST-PREDICT currently have 7 breast cancer diagnostic tests in development, and 16 novel drug therapies in pre-clinical testing.

BREAST-PREDICT was pivotal, together with other key entities, in the launch of a new Irish biobank of data that marks a major step forward in breast cancer research here. The National Breast Cancer Resource contains tissue, blood, DNA and RNA samples provided by breast cancer patients. The database currently holds information for more than 7,000 breast cancer cases. Cancer researchers in Ireland and elsewhere can request access to these specimens through nationalbreastcancerresource.ie, so as to generally advance knowledge in the breast cancer area.

Its 50-plus researchers have produced 87 BREAST-PREDICT scientific publications to date, comprising of 56 original and 31 review articles published in high-profile journals, several of which describe promising research advances likely to improve patient care.

The BREAST-PREDICT team are also working to ensure that this important work will continue long after the Irish Cancer Society’s initial five-year investment. Already more than €40 million in additional funding has been leveraged from other sources in academia, industry and state and EU grants, while its researchers and staff have been given training, education and career development support to the next generation of Irish cancer research leaders. 

Recent discovery by our breast cancer researchers

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Scientists from BREAST-PREDICT in collaboration with an EU-funded research consortium called RATHER, have shown that a new drug, called THZ-1, can prevent the growth of triple negative breast cancer. Their findings have recently been published in the journal Cancer Research.

Triple negative breast cancer affects approximately 1 in 5 women diagnosed with breast cancer, and is more often diagnosed in younger women. This aggressive subtype lacks three important proteins or biomarkers in the tumour cells, namely estrogen receptor, progesterone receptor and HER2. This means that patients with this type of breast cancer cannot receive ‘targeted therapies’ such as hormone therapy (e.g. Tamoxifen) or Herceptin.

Instead, the only effective treatment for these patients is chemotherapy, making this type of cancer one of the most difficult to treat.

Although many of these patients do respond well to chemotherapy, resistance of the tumour to this treatment is a common problem. Patients with resistant disease have a poor prognosis, and their tumours are more likely to return and spread following treatment. Doctors and researchers are urgently looking for new treatment options for these patients.

Read more about this exciting discovery.

Advanced breast cancer research

Advanced cancer is a term that usually describes cancer that has spread. Treatment for advanced cancer is normally to keep the cancer under control rather than trying to cure it. Advanced cancers have usually spread from where they started to other parts of the body and can also be called secondary or metastatic cancer.

Anecdotal evidence suggests that around 700 women present with advanced breast cancer every year, and up to 3,200 women are currently living with the disease in Ireland.

This is a form of breast cancer that has spread from the original site in the breast to other parts of the body. The most common parts of the body that cancer spreads to are the bones, liver, lungs and brain. 

The Society is currently conducting research with advanced breast cancer patients and it is hoped that the study will lead to a better overall understanding of quality of life in terms of fatigue and cogitative concerns of metastatic breast cancer patients. The research is also examining if services, like the Irish Cancer Society’s Cancer Nurseline, as well as other support services, will benefit these patients. Once the results are made available to us we will be reviewing them and looking at implementing the recommendations as soon as possible.

Dr Damir Vareslija, Irish Cancer Society-funded advanced breast cancer researcher

Damir works at the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland as part of BREAST-PREDICT, a collaborate network of breast cancer researchers funded by the Irish Cancer Society. Here he talks about his trying to identify faulty genes that lead to metastatic breast cancer spreading to the brain.

Related information

Meet some breast cancer survivors:

• Deirdre is a breast cancer survivor.
• Niamh is a breast cancer survivor.
• Sheyla is a breast cancer survivor.

More information about breast cancer:

• Breast cancer risk factors and how to reduce your risk.
• What is advanced breast cancer?
• Signs and symptoms of breast cancer.

Chat with other people affected by breast cancer in our online community.