The Research

The projects and students we fund focus on different yet complementary aspects of secondary or metastatic breast cancer. Some projects focus on new treatments, while others aim to understand the underlying mechanisms of metastasis, ultimately contributing to a more comprehensive approach to addressing secondary breast cancer.

Understanding how new drugs can be used for different types of breast cancer:

These comprise:

○ Imperial College London (Kaste Jurgaityte) Supervisor - Professor Simak Ali. Understanding how and why oestrogen receptor (ER)-positive breast cancers that do not respond to current anti-hormonal and CDK4/6 targeted therapies can benefit from Samuraciclib, a new drug currently in clinical trials. PhD completed 2024.

○ Institute of Cancer Research (ICR) London. (Hwei Minn Khoo, PhD Candidate): Supervisor -Dr Rachael Natrajan. Exploring how Samuraciclib can be used to treat Triple Negative Breast Cancer (TNBC), aiming to leverage the drug's sensitivity to this subtype. Started October 2023.

Understanding why cancer spreads:

○ ICR (Shaun Tan, PhD Candidate): Supervisor- Vicky Sanz Moreno. Examining metastatic breast cancer at the single-cell level to better understand how and why it spreads. Starting November 2024.

○ Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre, Melbourne, Australia. Belinda Parker lab. Investigating the tumour micro-environment to uncover factors that either promote or prevent the spread of cancer, focusing on biomarkers and the immune system. Ongoing.

Studies to aimed at early detection, prevention and personalised treatment of metastasis:

○ University of San Francisco (UCSF), California- UCSF Breast Oncology Program leaders Laura Esserman, MD, Andrei Goga, MD, PhD, and Laura J. van’t Veer, PhD- Studying the mechanisms driving tumour growth and metastasis to discover improved treatment options to eliminate metastasis. We will be supporting a small number of existing PhD and postdoctoral students, to be selected in early 2025, with additional funds to advance their research. Ongoing.

○ Memorial Sloan Kettering (MSK), NY: HERizon Clinical Trial - using liquid biopsies to monitor how HER2-positive breast cancer responds to treatment in real time, with the goal of eradicating the disease rather than managing it. Sarat Chandarlapaty, MD, PhD. The Chandarlapaty Lab's research collaborates with MSK breast oncologists Shanu Modi, MD, and Pedram Razavi, MD, PhD, Director of Liquid Biopsy and Genomics.Ongoing.

Secondary breast cancer presents significant treatment challenges. By supporting diverse research teams globally, each concentrating on different aspects of the disease, we aim to enhance understanding and improve patient outcomes. Research into secondary breast cancer also provides insights applicable to other cancers. Understanding how cancer cells spread, tumour evolution, and drug resistance is relevant to various types of cancers, including lung, prostate and ovarian.