Breakthrough Breast Cancer seeking 'the best and the brightest'

Breakthrough Breast Cancer has a number of vacancies ranging from trainees to senior managers in various areas. Photograph: Breakthrough Breast Cancer

Tell us about Breakthrough Breast Cancer
Breakthrough Breast Cancer is a passionate, focused and energetic charity committed to achieving our vision of a world freed from breast cancer. First and foremost we're a research organisation, funding 25% of all breast cancer research in the UK, and this underpins every part of our work. Breakthrough's research is saving lives by helping improve early diagnosis, developing new treatments and working to ultimately prevent all types of breast cancer.

What is the focus of the Breakthrough Breast Cancer team?
Our research is the heart of what we do at Breakthrough, but the work that takes place outside the laboratory is equally important. Our work covers all aspects of breast cancer including patient advocacy, mass engagement, fundraising and working with policy makers to ensure breast cancer patients and their families get the best and most current, effective care possible.

We've got a huge challenge ahead of us, but we're fortunate to have a talented, driven team who not only enjoy what they do, but are also making a huge difference to the lives of the thousands of men and women affected by breast cancer in the UK.

Tell us a bit about your careers open day. Why are you doing it?
If we're going to make our vision of a world freed from breast cancer a reality, then we're going to need the best and the brightest. We currently have a number of vacancies across the organisation and we're inviting applications for a range of jobs, from trainees to senior managers, in fundraising, communications, marketing and business development. Our careers open day is an opportunity for prospective members of our team to come and meet us, learn about what we do and find out first-hand how we're making a real difference to the lives of people affected by breast cancer.

Is breast cancer just a women's issue?
Every year, 50,000 women and 400 men will be diagnosed with breast cancer, making it the most commonly diagnosed cancer in the UK. Everyone knows someone who's been affected by breast cancer, and the shock and grief that the disease causes affects individuals, their friends and their families. Breast cancer is everyone's problem, and Breakthrough is dedicated to uniting everybody affected by and working against the disease.

I'm not a scientist, how could I make an impact on breast cancer?
Our scientific research is important, but there are so many teams in Breakthrough fighting breast cancer on all fronts. Outside the lab our teams engage with policy makers, campaign for better breast awareness, produce health information, fundraise, and work with our many supporters with the aim of stopping women and men dying from breast cancer.

What are the opportunities over the next few years for Breakthrough Breast Cancer? And how will these prospective applicants contribute to Breakthrough's ongoing success?
Over the years we've had the benefit of experience and expertise from every professional sector, and moving forward we want to build on this, grow our workforce and get ever closer to achieving our goals. We are at an exciting stage of our development; we've just launched our new strategy and five new areas of focus for our work, so we're actively seeking the best of the best to make these ambitions a reality. Our careers open day is an opportunity for people to find out what we want to achieve, and let us know how they can help us do it.

What's it like to work in the charity sector?
Working in the charity sector is a rewarding experience; your work is making a difference to people's lives, and bringing about positive social change. At Breakthrough, we pride ourselves on using business methods to capitalise on every opportunity, and ensure every penny of our fundraisers' money goes towards achieving our ultimate aim of stopping women and men dying from breast cancer.

Why should people want to work for Breakthrough?
Our recent in-house opinion survey showed that over 80% of our people would recommend Breakthrough as an employer; we've got a great team working in a lively, engaging environment. There are great benefits, and our staff progression scheme allows our team members to grow and develop into their roles.

But beyond that, Breakthrough is a unique, special place to work. Being part of our team means you're making a genuine difference to the lives of people living with breast cancer. Breakthrough is a force for change, and everyone who works here takes us a step closer to achieving the vision that underpins all of our work, a world freed from breast cancer.

Catherine Devitt is director of people and organisation development at Breakthrough Breast Cancer

For more information about our benefits and vacancies please visit Breakthrough's careers page. If you would like to attend the careers open day please email openday@breakthrough.org.uk

This content is produced and funded by Breakthrough Breast Cancer

View the original article here

Breakthrough Breast Cancer seeking 'the best and the brightest'

Breakthrough Breast Cancer has a number of vacancies ranging from trainees to senior managers in various areas. Photograph: Breakthrough Breast Cancer

Tell us about Breakthrough Breast Cancer
Breakthrough Breast Cancer is a passionate, focused and energetic charity committed to achieving our vision of a world freed from breast cancer. First and foremost we're a research organisation, funding 25% of all breast cancer research in the UK, and this underpins every part of our work. Breakthrough's research is saving lives by helping improve early diagnosis, developing new treatments and working to ultimately prevent all types of breast cancer.

What is the focus of the Breakthrough Breast Cancer team?
Our research is the heart of what we do at Breakthrough, but the work that takes place outside the laboratory is equally important. Our work covers all aspects of breast cancer including patient advocacy, mass engagement, fundraising and working with policy makers to ensure breast cancer patients and their families get the best and most current, effective care possible.

We've got a huge challenge ahead of us, but we're fortunate to have a talented, driven team who not only enjoy what they do, but are also making a huge difference to the lives of the thousands of men and women affected by breast cancer in the UK.

Tell us a bit about your careers open day. Why are you doing it?
If we're going to make our vision of a world freed from breast cancer a reality, then we're going to need the best and the brightest. We currently have a number of vacancies across the organisation and we're inviting applications for a range of jobs, from trainees to senior managers, in fundraising, communications, marketing and business development. Our careers open day is an opportunity for prospective members of our team to come and meet us, learn about what we do and find out first-hand how we're making a real difference to the lives of people affected by breast cancer.

Is breast cancer just a women's issue?
Every year, 50,000 women and 400 men will be diagnosed with breast cancer, making it the most commonly diagnosed cancer in the UK. Everyone knows someone who's been affected by breast cancer, and the shock and grief that the disease causes affects individuals, their friends and their families. Breast cancer is everyone's problem, and Breakthrough is dedicated to uniting everybody affected by and working against the disease.

I'm not a scientist, how could I make an impact on breast cancer?
Our scientific research is important, but there are so many teams in Breakthrough fighting breast cancer on all fronts. Outside the lab our teams engage with policy makers, campaign for better breast awareness, produce health information, fundraise, and work with our many supporters with the aim of stopping women and men dying from breast cancer.

What are the opportunities over the next few years for Breakthrough Breast Cancer? And how will these prospective applicants contribute to Breakthrough's ongoing success?
Over the years we've had the benefit of experience and expertise from every professional sector, and moving forward we want to build on this, grow our workforce and get ever closer to achieving our goals. We are at an exciting stage of our development; we've just launched our new strategy and five new areas of focus for our work, so we're actively seeking the best of the best to make these ambitions a reality. Our careers open day is an opportunity for people to find out what we want to achieve, and let us know how they can help us do it.

What's it like to work in the charity sector?
Working in the charity sector is a rewarding experience; your work is making a difference to people's lives, and bringing about positive social change. At Breakthrough, we pride ourselves on using business methods to capitalise on every opportunity, and ensure every penny of our fundraisers' money goes towards achieving our ultimate aim of stopping women and men dying from breast cancer.

Why should people want to work for Breakthrough?
Our recent in-house opinion survey showed that over 80% of our people would recommend Breakthrough as an employer; we've got a great team working in a lively, engaging environment. There are great benefits, and our staff progression scheme allows our team members to grow and develop into their roles.

But beyond that, Breakthrough is a unique, special place to work. Being part of our team means you're making a genuine difference to the lives of people living with breast cancer. Breakthrough is a force for change, and everyone who works here takes us a step closer to achieving the vision that underpins all of our work, a world freed from breast cancer.

Catherine Devitt is director of people and organisation development at Breakthrough Breast Cancer

For more information about our benefits and vacancies please visit Breakthrough's careers page. If you would like to attend the careers open day please email openday@breakthrough.org.uk

This content is produced and funded by Breakthrough Breast Cancer

View the original article here

Breakthrough Breast Cancer seeking 'the best and the brightest'

Breakthrough Breast Cancer has a number of vacancies ranging from trainees to senior managers in various areas. Photograph: Breakthrough Breast Cancer

Tell us about Breakthrough Breast Cancer
Breakthrough Breast Cancer is a passionate, focused and energetic charity committed to achieving our vision of a world freed from breast cancer. First and foremost we're a research organisation, funding 25% of all breast cancer research in the UK, and this underpins every part of our work. Breakthrough's research is saving lives by helping improve early diagnosis, developing new treatments and working to ultimately prevent all types of breast cancer.

What is the focus of the Breakthrough Breast Cancer team?
Our research is the heart of what we do at Breakthrough, but the work that takes place outside the laboratory is equally important. Our work covers all aspects of breast cancer including patient advocacy, mass engagement, fundraising and working with policy makers to ensure breast cancer patients and their families get the best and most current, effective care possible.

We've got a huge challenge ahead of us, but we're fortunate to have a talented, driven team who not only enjoy what they do, but are also making a huge difference to the lives of the thousands of men and women affected by breast cancer in the UK.

Tell us a bit about your careers open day. Why are you doing it?
If we're going to make our vision of a world freed from breast cancer a reality, then we're going to need the best and the brightest. We currently have a number of vacancies across the organisation and we're inviting applications for a range of jobs, from trainees to senior managers, in fundraising, communications, marketing and business development. Our careers open day is an opportunity for prospective members of our team to come and meet us, learn about what we do and find out first-hand how we're making a real difference to the lives of people affected by breast cancer.

Is breast cancer just a women's issue?
Every year, 50,000 women and 400 men will be diagnosed with breast cancer, making it the most commonly diagnosed cancer in the UK. Everyone knows someone who's been affected by breast cancer, and the shock and grief that the disease causes affects individuals, their friends and their families. Breast cancer is everyone's problem, and Breakthrough is dedicated to uniting everybody affected by and working against the disease.

I'm not a scientist, how could I make an impact on breast cancer?
Our scientific research is important, but there are so many teams in Breakthrough fighting breast cancer on all fronts. Outside the lab our teams engage with policy makers, campaign for better breast awareness, produce health information, fundraise, and work with our many supporters with the aim of stopping women and men dying from breast cancer.

What are the opportunities over the next few years for Breakthrough Breast Cancer? And how will these prospective applicants contribute to Breakthrough's ongoing success?
Over the years we've had the benefit of experience and expertise from every professional sector, and moving forward we want to build on this, grow our workforce and get ever closer to achieving our goals. We are at an exciting stage of our development; we've just launched our new strategy and five new areas of focus for our work, so we're actively seeking the best of the best to make these ambitions a reality. Our careers open day is an opportunity for people to find out what we want to achieve, and let us know how they can help us do it.

What's it like to work in the charity sector?
Working in the charity sector is a rewarding experience; your work is making a difference to people's lives, and bringing about positive social change. At Breakthrough, we pride ourselves on using business methods to capitalise on every opportunity, and ensure every penny of our fundraisers' money goes towards achieving our ultimate aim of stopping women and men dying from breast cancer.

Why should people want to work for Breakthrough?
Our recent in-house opinion survey showed that over 80% of our people would recommend Breakthrough as an employer; we've got a great team working in a lively, engaging environment. There are great benefits, and our staff progression scheme allows our team members to grow and develop into their roles.

But beyond that, Breakthrough is a unique, special place to work. Being part of our team means you're making a genuine difference to the lives of people living with breast cancer. Breakthrough is a force for change, and everyone who works here takes us a step closer to achieving the vision that underpins all of our work, a world freed from breast cancer.

Catherine Devitt is director of people and organisation development at Breakthrough Breast Cancer

For more information about our benefits and vacancies please visit Breakthrough's careers page. If you would like to attend the careers open day please email openday@breakthrough.org.uk

This content is produced and funded by Breakthrough Breast Cancer

View the original article here

As many as 1 in 5 women don't believe their breast cancer risk

Main Category: Breast Cancer
Also Included In: Genetics;  Psychology / Psychiatry
Article Date: 19 Aug 2013 - 1:00 PDT
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As many as 1 in 5 women don't believe their breast cancer risk

Despite taking a tailored risk assessment tool that factors in family history and personal habits, nearly 20 percent of women did not believe their breast cancer risk, according to a new study from the University of Michigan Comprehensive Cancer Center.

Most of the women who didn't believe their risk numbers said they did not feel it took into account their family history of cancer or their personal health habits. The tool did ask relevant questions about the individual's family and personal history.

"If people don't believe their risk numbers, it does not allow them to make informed medical decisions," says senior study author Angela Fagerlin, Ph.D., associate professor of internal medicine at the University of Michigan Medical School and a research scientist at the VA Ann Arbor Center for Clinical Management Research.

"Women who believe their risk is not high might skip chemoprevention strategies that could significantly reduce their risk. And women who think their risk should be higher could potentially undergo treatments that might not be medically appropriate, which can have long-term ramifications," she adds

The findings, published in Patient Education and Counseling, are part of a larger study looking at how to improve patients' understanding of risk information.

Some 690 women who were at above-average risk of developing breast cancer completed a web-based decision aid that included questions about age, ethnicity, personal history of breast cancer, and number of first-degree relatives who had had breast cancer. The women then were told their five-year risk of developing breast cancer and given information about prevention strategies.

After receiving this information, the women were asked to recall their risk of breast cancer within the next five years. If they answered incorrectly, they were asked why: they forgot, made a rounding error or disagreed with the number. The researchers found that 22 percent of women who misreported their risk said they disagreed with the numbers.

The most common reason women said they disagreed with their risk was that their family history made them either more or less likely to develop breast cancer. Many believed that because an aunt or father had cancer, it increased their risk. Only first-degree female relatives - mother, sister, daughter - impact a person's breast cancer risk. Others felt a lack of family history meant their cancer risk should be very low.

One-third of women cited a gut instinct that their risk numbers just seemed too high or too low.

"We've put so much fear in people about breast cancer so they feel at high risk," says lead study author Laura D. Scherer, Ph.D. "We found that many women assumed certain factors should impact their risk, like cancer history in distant or male relatives, but those factors don't put a woman at increased risk.

"We have a trend toward personalized medicine and individualized medicine, but if people don't believe their personalized risk numbers, they're not going to get the best medical care for them," says Scherer, who is now at the University of Missouri. She completed the research while at the University of Michigan.

Breast cancer statistics: 234,580 Americans will be diagnosed with breast cancer this year and 40,030 will die from the disease, according to the American Cancer Society

Article adapted by Medical News Today from original press release. Click 'references' tab above for source.
Visit our breast cancer section for the latest news on this subject.

Belief in numbers: When and why women disbelieve tailored breast cancer risk statistics, doi:10.1016/j.pec.2013.03.016

Additional authors: Peter A. Ubel, Duke University; Jennifer McClure, Group Health Research Institute; Sharon Hensley Alford, Henry Ford Health System; Lisa Holtzman, University of Michigan; Nicole Exe, University of Michigan

Patient Education and Counseling, Vol. 92, No. 2, pp. 253-259, August 2013

University of Michigan Health System

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Breastfeeding reduces threat of breast cancer

Featured Article
Main Category: Pregnancy / Obstetrics
Also Included In: Breast Cancer;  Cancer / Oncology;  Smoking / Quit Smoking
Article Date: 15 Aug 2013 - 0:00 PDT Current ratings for:
Breastfeeding reduces threat of breast cancer

Women who breastfeed for over 6 months are less likely to develop early breast cancer than women who do not breastfeed - as long as they do not smoke - a nurse-led study suggests.

Emilio Gonzalez-Jimenez PhD, of the University of Granada in Spain, and his colleagues drew from the medical records of 504 women (between 19 and 91 years of age) who had been treated for breast cancer at one of the city's hospitals.

Women who had not breastfed their babies were, on average, found to get breast cancer 10 years earlier than breastfeeding mothers.

The university team included a number of factors in their analysis - age of breast cancer diagnosis, length of breastfeeding, family history of cancer, obesity, alcohol consumption and smoking habits.

"Regardless of the patients' family history of cancer," the researchers said, breastfeeding meant that mothers who were going to develop the disease were going to do so at a later age.

The nursing experts warn, however, that smoking countered the benefits of breastfeeding:

"In contrast, female smokers were diagnosed with breast cancer at a younger age and obtained no significant benefit from a longer period of breastfeeding."

In the authors' study paper background, they cite estimates of 720,000 cases of breast cancer a year worldwide - "20% of all cancers." They note that 17-36% of all breast cancers are in women under 40.

Dr. Emilio Gonzalez-Jimenez and his team explain that "there are various explanations why breastfeeding seems to prevent breast cancer and why it appears to significantly benefit female health."

Among the biological theories to explain breastfeeding benefit, the authors say:

"The most probable of these are the hormonal changes that take place during pregnancy and lactation."

The results of the study showed a gain in years lived for breast cancer patients who breastfed their babies "for periods of longer than 6 months," the authors conclude.

"In fact," they say, "our study showed an average gain of 10 years in the mean age at diagnosis."

The study ends with this conclusion:

"Breastfeeding for periods of over 6 months not only provides children with numerous health benefits, but also protects the mother from serious diseases such as breast cancer.

Breastfeeding is a potential ally in the fight against breast tumors."

The researchers call for continued analysis and study of the benefits of breastfeeding.

In other recent news, breastfeeding for longer has been linked to higher IQ in offspring.

The CDC (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) has statistics showing that breastfeeding went up in the past decade. The proportion of babies being breastfed rose from 6% in the year 2000, to over two-thirds, or 71%, in 2010.

Written by Markus MacGill

Copyright: Medical News Today
Not to be reproduced without permission of Medical News Today Visit our pregnancy / obstetrics section for the latest news on this subject. Breastfeeding and the prevention of breast cancer: a retrospective review of clinical histories Emilio Gonzalez-Jimenez, Pedro A. Garcia, Maria Jose Aguilar and others, Journal of Clinical Nursing, published online August 15, 2013. Please use one of the following formats to cite this article in your essay, paper or report:

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Drugs that clog 'waste disposal' may treat aggressive breast cancers

Main Category: Breast Cancer
Article Date: 14 Aug 2013 - 0:00 PDT
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Drugs that clog 'waste disposal' may treat aggressive breast cancers

In a new paper in Cancer Cell, a team led by Judy Lieberman, PhD, of Boston Children's Hospital's Program in Cellular and Molecular Medicine reports "triple-negative" breast cancers may be vulnerable to drugs that attack the proteasome. This cellular structure acts as the cell's waste disposal, breaking down damaged or unneeded proteins.

These cancers, which lack the three major therapeutic markers for breast cancer - the estrogen, progesterone and HER2 receptors - are very aggressive and difficult to treat. They mostly affect younger women and have the worst prognosis of all breast cancers.

By selectively turning genes off throughout the genomes of triple-negative tumor cells in vitro, Lieberman's team found that these cells absolutely require active proteasomes in order to live. When turned off, the cells die.

These data suggest that triple-negative breast cancers may respond to treatment with drugs similar to bortezomib (Velcade®), a proteasome inhibitor that revolutionized the care of patients with the blood cancer multiple myeloma.

Article adapted by Medical News Today from original press release. Click 'references' tab above for source.
Visit our breast cancer section for the latest news on this subject.

The study was supported by the Department of Defense Breast Cancer Research Program, the National Cancer Institute (grant number R01CA146445) and the Breast Cancer Research Foundation.

A Genome-wide siRNA Screen Identifies Proteasome Addiction as a Vulnerability of Basal-like Triple-Negative Breast Cancer Cells

Cancer Cell, Volume 24, Issue 2, 182-196, 12 August 2013. 10.1016/j.ccr.2013.07.008

Boston Children's Hospital

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Personal website chronicling improves depressive symptoms in women with breast cancer

Main Category: Breast Cancer
Also Included In: IT / Internet / E-mail;  Depression
Article Date: 14 Aug 2013 - 2:00 PDT
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Personal website chronicling improves depressive symptoms in women with breast cancer

Adults increasingly are conveying their personal experience with serious disease online, but do such chronicles help the authors or their audience? In the first known study of its kind, UCLA researchers have discovered that creating a personal website to chronicle the cancer experience and communicate with the author's interpersonal circle can reduce depressive symptoms, increase positive mood, and enhance appreciation for life in women diagnosed with breast cancer. Published online ahead of print in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, the study was led by Annette Stanton, member of the Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center and professor of psychology and psychiatry/biobehavioral sciences.

Explaining the impetus for the study, Stanton said, "From our own and others' previous research, we know that expressing emotions surrounding the experience and gaining social support can be helpful for people diagnosed with cancer, and we know that interpersonal interventions can be useful." However, most interpersonal interventions to promote quality of life in adults diagnosed with cancer involve the patient's partner, primary caregiver, or other cancer patients. "Our goal in this research was to provide a platform on which breast cancer survivors could reflect on their experiences, as well as communicate with and leverage support from their existing social networks, especially friends and family," Stanton said. "The idea for this trial really took off when I met two sisters who had created personal websites for each other when each was diagnosed with cancer."

In Project Connect Online (PCO), a randomized trial conducted with 88 breast cancer survivors, Stanton and colleagues led three-hour workshops in which women created personal websites. Women randomly assigned to the control group were offered the workshop six months later. All participants completed standard measures of psychological status before being assigned to their respective groups and six months after selection.

In the PCO workshops conducted with small groups, women learned about potential uses of the websites, such as expressing emotions related to cancer, providing medical status updates, and letting others know what would be helpful. Women also proactively considered common concerns of website authors, including the pressure to be positive or eloquent. They then engaged in hands-on website creation and at the end of the three-hour sessions had created their websites and authored their first posts. According to Stanton, "We worked closely with a website developer so participants had several choices for how their sites looked, but all sites had the same functions. It was inspiring to see women of so wide an age range (28 to 76 years old) and of such varied computer experience develop their websites in just a few hours."

The women assigned to PCO found their websites particularly valuable for telling the stories of their cancer experiences, expressing emotions, and reducing how much information they had to repeat for family and friends. Visitors to the websites found them useful for providing updates on the authors' health and for helping visitors feel emotionally close to authors. The women in PCO demonstrated statistically significant improvement in depressive symptoms, positive mood, and life appreciation. The effects were particularly strong for women in active medical treatment, most of whom had advanced (metastatic) disease. Women are more often motivated to tell their stories, express cancer-related emotions, garner support, and keep others informed during active medical treatment and the often unpredictable course of metastatic disease than those who have completed their medical treatments for cancer. "We are encouraged by these positive findings," Stanton said, "especially for cancer survivors with the most need, those in active medical treatment or with more advanced disease. Our next step is to gain support for a larger test of Project Connect Online."

Article adapted by Medical News Today from original press release. Click 'references' tab above for source.
Visit our breast cancer section for the latest news on this subject.

Project Connect Online: Randomized Trial of an Internet-Based Program to Chronicle the Cancer Experience and Facilitate Communication, Annette L. Stanton, Elizabeth H. Thompson, Catherine M. Crespi, John S. Link and James R. Waisman, Journal of Clinical Oncology, Published online before print August 12, 2013, doi: 10.1200/JCO.2012.46.9015

This research was supported by the Susan G. Komen for the Cure Foundation, the Breast Cancer Research Foundation and the National Institutes of Health.

UCLA's Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center

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Seeking a clinical test for breast cancer

Main Category: Breast Cancer
Also Included In: Pregnancy / Obstetrics
Article Date: 14 Aug 2013 - 1:00 PDT
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Seeking a clinical test for breast cancer

An international scientific collaborative led by the Harvard Stem Cell Institute's Kornelia Polyak, MD, PhD, has discovered why women who give birth in their early twenties are less likely to eventually develop breast cancer than women who don't, triggering a search for a way to confer this protective state on all women.

The researchers now are in the process of testing p27, a mammary gland progenitor marker, in the tissue of thousands of women collected over a 20-year period - women whose histories have been followed extremely closely - to see if it is an accurate breast cancer predictor in a large population of women. If the hypothesis is confirmed, likely within a few months, Polyak says the commercial development of a clinical test for breast cancer risk would follow.

In a paper just published in the journal Cell Stem Cell, the researchers describe how a full-term pregnancy in a woman's early twenties reduces the relative number and proliferative capacity of mammary gland progenitors - cells that have the ability to divide into milk-producing cells - making them less likely to acquire mutations that lead to cancer.

By comparing numerous breast tissue samples, the scientists found that women at high risk for breast cancer, such as those who inherit a mutated BRCA1 or BRCA2 gene, have higher-than-average numbers of mammary gland progenitors. In general, women who carried a child to full term had the lowest populations of mammary gland progenitors, even when compared to cancer-free women who had never been pregnant. In addition, in woman who gave birth relatively early, but later still developed breast cancer, the number of mammary gland progenitors were again observed to be higher than average.

"The reason we are excited about this research is that we can use a progenitor cell census to determine who's at particularly high risk for breast cancer," said Polyak, a Harvard Stem Cell Institute Principal Faculty member and Harvard Medical School professor at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute. "We could use this strategy to decrease cancer risk because we know what regulates the proliferation of these cells and we could deplete them from the breast."

Research shows that two trends are contributing to an increase in the number of breast cancer diagnoses - a rise in obesity and the ever-increasing number of women postponing child bearing. The scientists' long-range goal is to develop a protective treatment that would mimic the protective effects of early child bearing.

The research, which took five years to complete, began with conversations between Polyak and John Hopkins University School of Medicine Professor Saraswati Sukumar, PhD. The two scientists formed collaborations with clinicians at cancer centers that see large numbers of high-risk women in order to obtain breast tissue samples. They also worked with genomics experts and bioinformaticians to analyze gene expression in different breast cell types. At times, Polyak and Sukumar had trouble convincing others to help with the study, which is unique in the breast cancer field for its focus on risk prediction and prevention.

"In general people who study cancer always want to focus on treating the cancer but in reality, preventing cancer can have the biggest impact on cancer-associated morbidity and mortality," Polyak said. "I think the mentality has to change because breast cancer affects so many women, and even though many of them are not dying of breast cancer, there's a significant personal and societal burden."

Article adapted by Medical News Today from original press release. Click 'references' tab above for source.
Visit our breast cancer section for the latest news on this subject.

Members of Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Beth-Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Harvard Medical School, Harvard School of Public Health, John Hopkins University School of Medicine, Coimbra University Hospital, Thomson Reuters Healthcare & Science, NICTA Victoria Research Laboratory, University of Melbourne, University of Oslo, Baker IDI Heart & Diabetes Institute, Baylor-Charles A. Sammons Cancer Center, St. Vincent’s Institute, USC Norris Comprehensive Cancer Center, UCSF Helen Diller Family Comprehensive Cancer Center, and Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre contributed to this research.

The main supporter of this research was the Avon Foundation, with additional contributions by the National Cancer Institute, the Susan G. Komen Foundation, the Terri Brodeur Foundation, the US Army Congressionally Directed Medical Research Program, the Victorian Breast Cancer Research Consortium, the St. Vincent’s Hospital Melbourne Research Endowment Fund, the Victorian Government’s OIS Program, the Programme for Advanced Medical Education, and the Cellex Foundation.

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"Super Mouse" created in the UK may lead to novel treatment strategies for breast cancer

Main Category: Breast Cancer
Also Included In: Genetics
Article Date: 31 Jul 2013 - 0:00 PDT
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"Super Mouse" created in the UK may lead to novel treatment strategies for breast cancer

It appears tiny and inconsequential enough, but the "super mouse" - created by researchers at the University of Kentucky Markey Cancer Center some six years ago - has spawned plenty of new research into preventing and/or treating many types of cancer.

Back in 2007, cancer researcher Vivek Rangnekar and his team announced that they discovered a gene - known as Par-4 - that specifically kills cancer cells without killing normal cells. Rangnekar's team used this gene to develop cancer-resistant mice that become known as "super mice" for their ability to stay healthy and tumor-free compared to normal mice.

Since that initial discovery, researchers across the country have built upon Rangnekar's discovery, including a team at the University of Pennsylvania, who recently published findings on how Par-4 downregulation affects breast cancer recurrence.

In a new article for Cancer Cell, UK researchers including Rangnekar as well as Tripti Shrestha-Bhattarai and Nikhil Hebbar discuss a recent study and how its findings may lead to the development of novel treatment strategies for breast cancer.

Breast cancer is the second leading cause of cancer death in women. Even with treatment, one in five patients will relapse from the disease within 10 years, and patients who have triple-negative breast cancer have an especially high risk of both local and distant recurrence. Treatment for these aggressive cancers is difficult because they tend to be resistant to "standard of care" therapies.

The study performed by the UPenn team showed that in women who experienced breast cancer relapse, the Par-4 protein was suppressed. These low levels of Par-4 allowed the cancerous cells to survive and multiply even after a full course of treatment. Conversely, tumor cells that have high levels of Par-4 are eliminated by apoptosis (cell death) following treatment. These new findings may provide insight into deciding which patients are at the highest risk for cancer recurrence.

"What this tells us is that low Par-4 may act as a predictor of breast cancer recurrence," said Rangnekar, associate director for the UK Markey Cancer Center. "This is important, because although this group studied only breast cancer, their observations may be relevant to recurrence in a broad range of cancer types because Par-4 is a general tumor suppressor gene."

Using Par-4 levels as a biomarker prior to treatment - and knowing whether that patient is at an elevated risk of recurrence - would give physicians another tool to use in determining the best course of treatment. Additionally, their findings may provide the basis for the development of novel treatment strategies for breast cancer.

Other 'tumor suppressor' genes exist, says Rangnekar, but what makes Par-4 so special is that it is not mutated as frequently as other known suppressors, and it's "selective" in its actions in that Par-4 will only kill cancer cells and not normal cells. Par-4 can become 'suppressed' or inactivated, leading to tumor re-growth, but Par-4 can be 'activated' again - and one of the next major steps is developing a safe and effective way to activate Par-4 in the cancerous cells.

"If Par-4 is still present in the cells, the strategy should be to try and utilize that Par-4, so as to restore it's apoptotic function and bring about apoptosis of the cancer cells," Rangnekar said.

Researchers are still years away from being ready to test these theories in clinical trials, but Rangnekar says they have already begun looking at agents, both natural and synthetic, that may help restore the expression of Par-4 in human cells, allowing the cancerous cells to become susceptible to treatment. Each new study on Par-4 brings researchers one step closer to developing a powerful method for both treating and preventing many of the deadliest types of cancers.

The findings in the cancer-resistant mouse have stimulated several collaborative projects on Par-4 at UK. Several UK investigators are now examining the role of Par-4 in diverse types of tumors: recently, Rangnekar and UK cancer biologist and immunologist Subbarao Bondada were jointly funded by the National Institutes of Health to study the role of Par-4 in chronic lymphocytic leukemia; UK pathologist Craig Horbinski's group is investigating Par-4 in aggressive brain tumors called glioblastomas; and UK chemist David Watt and cancer biologist Chunming Liu are developing small molecules that can activate Par-4 and kill cancer cells.

"Our multi-disciplinary team, working together, uses a multi-faceted strategy in our research," Rangnekar said. "This allows us to gain a better understanding of the complexities of cancer in order to effectively kill recurrent tumor cells, especially those that have spread from their origin to distant tissue sites."

Article adapted by Medical News Today from original press release. Click 'references' tab above for source.
Visit our breast cancer section for the latest news on this subject.

Par(-4)oxysm in Breast Cancer, Tripti Shrestha-Bhattarai, Nikhil Hebbar, Vivek M. Rangnekar, Cancer Cell, Volume 24, Issue 1, 3-5, 8 July 2013, doi: 10.1016/j.ccr.2013.06.010

University of Kentucky

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'"Super Mouse" created in the UK may lead to novel treatment strategies for breast cancer'

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