How Breast Cancer Arises Breakthrough
The Story
Breast cancer researchers reported several advances in 2023 in understanding how the disease starts, spreads, and resists treatment, pointing toward more targeted therapies.
A team led by Dr Ahmet Ucar at the University of Manchester found that the protein RAC1B allows cancer stem cells to drive tumors and evade treatment, and in mice, stem cells lacking RAC1B could not form visible tumors even after 100 days and were more vulnerable to chemotherapy.
At the Breast Cancer Now Toby Robins Research Centre, Dr Frances Turrell and Professor Clare Isacke identified a protein called PDGF C that helps determine whether dormant cancer cells reawaken in the lungs, and they are testing whether the existing drug imatinib could block that trigger.
Professor Anita Grigoriadis built an artificial intelligence model that analyzed more than 5,000 lymph nodes from 345 patients with triple negative breast cancer and successfully predicted where secondary tumors would develop.
Dr Rachael Natrajan screened 80 drugs against tumors carrying SF3B1 gene changes and found that PARP inhibitors effectively killed the affected cancer cells in the laboratory.
A separate analysis by Dr Michael Jones of 540,000 women across 19 studies showed that the most physically active women were about 10 percent less likely to develop breast cancer before menopause, offering a fuller molecular and preventive picture than existed before.
A team led by Dr Ahmet Ucar at the University of Manchester found that the protein RAC1B allows cancer stem cells to drive tumors and evade treatment, and in mice, stem cells lacking RAC1B could not form visible tumors even after 100 days and were more vulnerable to chemotherapy.
At the Breast Cancer Now Toby Robins Research Centre, Dr Frances Turrell and Professor Clare Isacke identified a protein called PDGF C that helps determine whether dormant cancer cells reawaken in the lungs, and they are testing whether the existing drug imatinib could block that trigger.
Professor Anita Grigoriadis built an artificial intelligence model that analyzed more than 5,000 lymph nodes from 345 patients with triple negative breast cancer and successfully predicted where secondary tumors would develop.
Dr Rachael Natrajan screened 80 drugs against tumors carrying SF3B1 gene changes and found that PARP inhibitors effectively killed the affected cancer cells in the laboratory.
A separate analysis by Dr Michael Jones of 540,000 women across 19 studies showed that the most physically active women were about 10 percent less likely to develop breast cancer before menopause, offering a fuller molecular and preventive picture than existed before.
Why It Matters
The 2023 lab work has since become approvals, and the money fight has followed. On May 1, 2026 the FDA approved vepdegestrant, the first PROTAC protein degrader to reach market, for ESR1 mutated advanced breast cancer after it held the disease for five months against 2.1 on fulvestrant, per The Hindu. AstraZeneca's camizestrant took the harder road: an FDA advisory panel judged its trial data too weak, the agency added three months to its review, and the European Commission approved the drug anyway on July 23, pharmaphorum reports. American patients lose most while the regulators disagree, since ESR1 resistance emerges on drugs they already take. Watch the delayed FDA ruling on camizestrant before the year is out.
Go Deeper
Read the original reporting at Breast Cancer Now.
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