Biochemistry - preventing spread

What's different about our breast cancer research?

• Sugars - Research groups worldwide use blood and urine samples to try and identify which chemicals act as markers for breast cancer and how it behaves. They look for these markers in proteins or DNA, where we focus on sugars.
  
  In 1987 Anthony Leathem published a seminal paper in The Lancet on his discovery of a sugar that coats breast cancer cells and affects their ability to travel to other parts of the body. Today we're investigating how complex sugar chains (or glycans) affect the growth and spread of breast cancer and whether they can be used to detect the
  disease.
• Diet and Lifestyle Study - our DietCompLyf study gives us access to an enviable bank of clinical samples.
• GlycoStation™ - Against Breast Cancer biochemists are the only research team in Europe using this state-of-the-art technology which makes possible the extremely sensitive analysis of glycan patterns. A huge advantage is that minute amounts of our prized clinical samples can produce a wealth of data.

More about Glycobiology

Glycobiology is the study of the structure, formation and biology of the glycans that attach to the protein in a cell. These 'glycoproteins' are spread over the cell's surface and play a major role in biological events like fertilisation and infection.

Abnormal changes in glycans are a common feature of a broad variety of cancers, including breast cancer. Our scientists are investigating the part they play in its spread and how new cancer detection methods and treatments can be developed based on their findings.

So what progress have we made?

Preliminary data suggest that GlycoStation™ technology can distinguish blood samples from patients whose breast cancer has spread from those where it hasn't. Within the next two years we should also have a blood and urine test that will be able to screen for breast cancer cells. Their degree of aggression will indicate whether a breast tumour is likely to spread to other areas.

Our research group has already discovered unique differences in the aggressiveness of laboratory-grown cancer cells. The next step is to confirm whether there is a consistent link between these variations and their degree of aggression.

Although glycobiology is a relatively young branch of biochemistry, but our scientists are already producing new and extremely exciting data. They have exceptional expertise in this fast-developing research field and all have several years' experience in cancer glycobiology. We also have an extensive bank of clinical samples that would be the envy of any cancer research group.