Therapies – More effective treatments
How the body’s natural defences could be harnessed to design more effective treatments and ultimately a vaccine against breast cancer.
Research projects that are associated with our research theme of Therapies are shown below:
ABC Discover 2
Prof Paul Skipp, University of Southampton
ABC Discover 2, led by Professor Paul Skipp at the University of Southampton, aims to transform secondary breast cancer research across the three ABC research themes of detection, therapy, and prevention, utilising the DietCompLyf Biobank. Read more
The Impact of Obesity on Immune Modulation in Breast Cancer Metastasis and Immunotherapy Outcomes
Dr Charles Birts, University of Southampton
The Fellowship project is investigating how obesity influences breast cancer progression, particularly cancer spread and treatment response. Read more
Therapeutic Antibody Programme
Prof Max Crispin, University of Southampton
Against Breast Cancer’s first long-term programme grant will support innovative research in the development of antibody therapies for secondary breast cancer. Read more
Investigating whether tertiary lymphoid structures in breast cancer are engines of anti-tumour immunity
Dr Isabela Pedroza-Pacheco, University of Oxford
Dr Isabela Pedroza-Pacheco will investigate anti-tumour immunity by applying advanced proteomic and gene expression technologies to analyse tissues and cells obtained from breast cancer patients. Read more
Investigating how the tumour extracellular matrix drives immune suppression in triple-negative breast cancer
Dr Ludovica Tarantola, Barts Cancer Institute
Ludovica’s PhD research has focused on understanding how the tumour environment affects immune cells and prevents them from effectively fighting breast cancer. Read more
Therapeutic Targeting of Dormant Breast Cancer Cells
Prof Ingunn Holen, University of Sheffield
Prof Ingunn Holen aims to understand how breast cancer cells survive chemotherapy treatment by entering a dormant state and whether these dormant cells regrow to become secondary tumours. Read more
Preventing Metastatic Disease by Targeting Cells that Survive Chemotherapy
Prof Ingunn Holen and Dr Lewis Quayle, University of Sheffield
Prof Ingunn Holen and Dr Lewis Quayle aim to further understand how breast cancer cells survive chemotherapy treatment by entering a dormant state and hope to target them in order to prevent secondary tumour regrowth. Read more
Characterising the Glycan Shield
Dr Oliver Pearce, Barts Cancer Institute, London
Dr. Oliver Pearce aims to identify how breast cancer tumours remodel their surroundings to protect them from attack by the bodies’ own immune system. He hopes to understand how immune cells are deactivated in order to improve the response to immunotherapy in triple negative breast cancer patients. Read more
Exploring Versican as an Immune Barrier in Cancer (PhD)
Dr Oliver Pearce and Priyanka Hirani, Barts Cancer Institute, London
Following on from the Glycan Shield project, Dr. Oliver Pearce and Priyanka Hirani are investigating how the protein Versican might be involved in deactivating immune cells in the tumour microenvironment. Read more
BRCA1, BRCA2 and DNA repair mechanisms
Dr Andrew Blackford, University of Oxford
As part of ABC’s Junior Research Fellowship programme Dr. Andrew Blackford aims to understand how BRCA1 and BRCA2 proteins repair DNA and stop tumours forming. Read more
The Effect of Metformin on Breast Cancer Metabolism
Dr Simon Lord, University of Oxford
As part of ABC’s Junior Research Fellowship programme Dr. Simon Lord aims to understand how the drug metformin affects cancer cell growth and metabolism and whether it might be effective as a new cancer treatment. Read more