Breast cancer research receives funding boost
Two research projects on different aspects of breast cancer treatment led by Monash Biomedicine Discovery Institute researchers, Associate Professor Lan Nguyen and Dr Thierry Jardé have been awarded a total of almost $1.5 milion by the National Breast Cancer Foundation (NCBF).
Breast cancer ranks as the second most frequently detected cancer in Australia, with more than 20,000 new diagnoses per year.
Associate Professor Nguyen has been awarded $800,000 to work on low-dose combination treatments for breast cancer. Dr Jardé has been awarded $666,000 to develop new therapeutic approaches for combating advanced breast cancer.
Associate Professor Nguyen’s team will combine cutting-edge biological experiments with advanced computational modelling to identify potential drug candidates and predict the most effective low-dose combination therapy for breast cancers driven by a particular protein called phosphoinositide 3-kinase (PI3K) that controls how cells grow. A large fraction of these cancers are resistant to current therapy.
Associate Professor Nguyen said that while medicines that target PI3K have been developed, cancer cells can still find ways to resist these drugs.
“We will investigate pathways that regulate how breast cancers develop resistance to PI3K targeting drugs and investigate new combinations of drugs at low doses targeted to these pathways to treat PI3K-driven breast cancer,” Associate Professor Nguyen said.
“This low-dose, multipronged approach could lead to better treatment outcomes and fewer side effects for many breast cancer patients, with the ultimate goal of reducing deaths while preserving the quality of life of breast cancer patients.”
Associate Professor Nguyen said, “We will combine advanced biological experiments with predictive computational modelling to reveal how breast cancer cells desensitise to PI3K-targeted drugs.
“Furthermore, we hope to develop a new method to identify combination treatments that target multiple cancer-driving proteins at lower doses but still effectively tackle PI3K-driven breast cancer, in order to improve therapy outcomes while reducing side effects.”
Dr Thierry Jardé’s project is working on the factors driving tumour growth and metastasis. He said that metastasis, which is the spread of cancer to other parts of the body, is responsible for all breast cancer related deaths.
“Breast cancers as well as metastatic deposits are surrounded by cells called cancer-associated fibroblasts (CAFs) that are understood to support tumour growth and invasion, create resistance to treatment, and cause relapse,” Dr Jardé said.
In this NBCF-funded research, Dr Jardé and colleagues will use patient derived models of breast cancer to investigate the proteins secreted by CAFs that play a role in communicating signals, which promote the growth and survival of cancer cells. Their goal will be to block the cellular communications between CAFs and cancer cells, which would offer an innovative and effective treatment approach for advanced breast cancer.
“In order to understand how CAFs communicate with tumour cells to drive their growth and survival, we will generate 3-dimensional laboratory versions of breast tumours that mimic the cellular makeup of the original tumours,” Dr Jardé said
“Once we have revealed how CAFs-produced factors promote tumour growth, then we can generate therapeutic targets to disrupt the communication between CAFs and cancer cells. This will provide novel treatment strategies for advanced breast cancer and improve survival outcomes.”
See the National Breast Cancer Foundation's news post.
About the Monash Biomedicine Discovery Institute
Committed to making the discoveries that will relieve the future burden of disease, the Monash Biomedicine Discovery Institute (BDI) at Monash University brings together more than 120 internationally-renowned research teams. Spanning seven discovery programs across Cancer, Cardiovascular Disease, Development and Stem Cells, Infection, Immunity, Metabolism, Diabetes and Obesity, and Neuroscience, Monash BDI is one of the largest biomedical research institutes in Australia. Our researchers are supported by world-class technology and infrastructure, and partner with industry, clinicians and researchers internationally to enhance lives through discovery.