New and recent breast cancer breakthroughs

What do we mean when we talk about a breakthrough in breast cancer?

All new cures start with curiosity. Asking questions about cancer enables us to find out more about the disease and, importantly, how to stop it. Thanks to you, we are able to equip researchers around the world with the tools they need to explore their questions, and investigate their bright ideas. 

Experiments will sometimes lead to a particularly important discovery - something brand new that we didn’t know before. Something unexpected, or something that kick-starts a whole new area of work. We love breakthroughs like this at Worldwide Cancer Research (you can read about some of our favourite ever medical breakthroughs here). 

Breakthroughs are the vital road signs on the journey to new or better cures for cancer - in this case breast cancer. They can be the first step towards a clinical trial for a new treatment or a clue about a new way to diagnose breast cancer sooner. 

Discovering how a high-fat diet could influence the spread of breast cancer:

Dr Héctor Peinado and his team at the Spanish National Cancer Research Centre (CNIO) have been investigating how triple-negative breast cancer spreads to the lungs. They found that mice with a high fat diet had important molecular changes in their lungs that appear to promote cancer spread. 

Why does it matter?

This breakthrough suggests that a high-fat diet might trigger certain mechanisms that make it easier for breast cancer cells to spread, and settle in the lungs. By shedding an important light on how diet and cancer can interact, this gives clues towards future cancer cures. 

How could it impact patients?

More research is needed in this area - but if these findings are confirmed in human patients, it gives us vital new information that could lead to new ways for us to manage breast cancer and stop it spreading. In the future this could mean that more breast cancers are curable and fewer lives are cut short. 

Breakthrough in tackling aggressive breast cancer:

Curestarter researchers in Manchester have made an exciting discovery about HER2+ breast cancers, which are particularly hard to treat. Dr Cathy Tournier and her team have found a potential new way to overcome treatment resistance. 

By blocking a molecule called ERK5, they were able to stop cancer cells in mice from dividing. Tumours grow and spread because of cells dividing uncontrollably so stopping cancer cells dividing would stop cancers in their tracks. 

Why does it matter?

New cures are desperately needed for HER2+ breast cancer and treatment resistance is a huge challenge. The team showed that a mechanism blocking ERK5 could team up well with existing treatments to successfully reduce the size of tumours.

How could it impact patients?

The team hope this research will lead to clinical trials to test if new treatments targeting ERK5 could be safe and effective for HER2+ breast cancer patients. This gives hope to patients around the world and to families like Anne’s who have been devastated by this deadly form of breast cancer. 

Killing breast cancer cells while they sleep:

Some breast cancer cells are able to survive treatment and spread to other parts of the body, where they can then enter a ‘sleep’ state before waking up and causing the cancer to return. These sleepy cancer cells can be hard to destroy, and common treatments like chemotherapy do not work on them. Dr Sirio Dupont and his team in Italy have found a new way to target these sleepy cells and stop the cancer spreading. 

Why does it matter?

Survival rates for breast cancer have improved considerably thanks to international cancer research. Despite this progress, some breast cancers are still incurable, especially those that have spread. We need to better understand how cancer cells can survive in other tissues and hibernate there, and how they can wake up and start growing again, in order to find ways to stop breast cancer spreading. 

How could it impact patients?

Breakthroughs like Dr Dupont’s are incredibly exciting because they mark the beginning of a journey towards new treatments that could stop the development of secondary or metastatic breast cancer. Metastasis is the main reason for most breast cancer deaths, so this research could help save the lives of many people in the future.

Discovering how healthy breast cells avoid cancer:

Professor Johanna Ivaska and her team in Finland didn't ask why breast cancer grows, but instead, why healthy breast cells don’t develop cancer. Turning the problem on its head like this has led to an remarkable breakthrough - that healthy breast tissue can secrete a special molecule that has the power to limit the spread of breast cancer. 

Why does it matter?

The researchers can now investigate how healthy breast tissue secretes this special molecule and how exactly it is able to stop breast cancer in its tracks. They hope they can even find a way to encourage cancer cells to secrete this special molecule themselves, which would cause tumours to turn against themselves.  

How could it impact patients?

Many breast cancer treatments work well against the original tumour, but fail if the cancer spreads to other parts of the body. New treatments are desperately needed to help stop breast cancer spreading so that more patients can be cured. By better understanding how breast tissue keeps cancer at bay the team are on their way to important new cures. 

Helping our immune system to see and destroy breast cancer:

A big challenge when treating cancer is that it can hide from our immune system, leaving it free to grow and spread. Cancer therapies work best when they can destroy cancer cells and alert the immune system to join in the attack. Professor Pascal Meier in London has discovered how to destroy breast cancer cells in a way that acts like a flare, alerting immune cells to hunt down and eliminate any remaining tumour cells.

Why does it matter?

We need new, better breast cancer cures, especially for triple negative breast cancer which is particularly aggressive. The team have identified ways to make radiotherapy not only kill cancer cells more efficiently but also leave them in a state that the immune system can recognise them and help destroy cancer cells. 

How could it impact patients?

Thanks to you, the researchers have been able to refine their idea for a new breast cancer cure. Through their dedication and innovation, they have made breakthroughs that mean in the future, breast cancer patients could receive therapies that both shrink tumours and train their own immune systems to keep the disease at bay.