Breast Cancer Now

One of the key changes in radiotherapy for breast cancer has been the introduction of intensity modulated radiotherapy (IMRT), where the radiation beam is closely shaped to the area of the tumour and allows variation in the intensity of the radiation delivered - smoothing out the dose across the breast and reducing radiation-induced damage to other organs and tissues. For Dr Coles, the Breast Cancer Now funded Cambridge IMRT trial was crucial in ensuring that this technique became available for breast cancer patients. This includes the FAST-forward study, led by Professors Murray Brunt and John Yarnold and co-ordinated by the Institute of Cancer Research Clinical Trials and Statistics Unit, which is investigating whether whole breast radiotherapy delivered over a single week can prevent cancer returning and avoid long-term side effects as successfully as the current standard procedure, where patients are treated over three weeks. As we reach the end of our series on the cornerstone treatments for breast cancer, it is clear that current research – from chemotherapy and surgery to radiotherapy, is intent on minimising the impact that breast cancer and its therapies can have on patients and their quality of life.

Scientists at The Institute of Cancer Research, London, spotted the pattern of gene activity among breast cancer cells with a particular ability to escape from the scaffold that normally holds them in place. Women whose tumours had high F12 activity and low STC2 activity had a 32 per cent chance of dying within 10 years, whereas those with low F12 activity and high STC2 activity had only a 10 per cent chance of dying. This early stage research has revealed genes that play a role in enabling breast cancer cells to escape from their original surroundings and spread, becoming incurable secondary breast cancer. “Much more research is needed into this important area but information on gene activity, like this, is vital for us to reach a future where we can detect cancers that are likely to spread before they do so, as well as potentially helping us to develop drugs that can stop breast cancer in its tracks – saving more lives in the future from this devastating disease.

Prof Isacke summarised some work her team announced earlier this year on how cells called fibroblasts are recruited by breast tumours to help them grow and spread. She also gave a sneak preview of some new work looking at ‘pericytes’, cells that surround the smallest blood vessels, and how they can sometimes help breast cancer cells get into the blood stream, allowing them to spread throughout the body. Now King’s College London Research Unit, talked about his research into how cells of the immune system might be helping breast cancer cells to spread to lymph nodes. Dr Trey Westbrook started with a heartfelt thank you to all the patients at the symposium - as the son of a breast cancer survivor, he is grateful for their support for breast cancer research.

We know that lifestyle plays a role as well as genetics, and it’s the interaction between these that researchers including Dr Orr’s team are trying to understand. These are already used for people who have an extensive family history of breast cancer but the models need to become a lot more accurate if we want to get better at finding people at risk who don’t necessarily have a family history of the disease. Dr Sacha Howell at the University of Manchester and The Christie NHS Foundation Trust discusses the options currently available: “Preventing breast cancer through lifestyle measures would also improve women’s health as a whole. Dr Sacha Howell says: “Further efforts to explore the causes of breast cancer, coupled with extensive drug screens and novel drug development to identify effective and non-toxic preventative agents will achieve our common goal of reducing both breast cancer incidence and mortality by 2050.