In April, the Against Breast Cancer community gathered for a training event, where volunteers, trustees, staff and supporters heard about the latest breakthroughs in breast cancer research.
The day, kindly hosted by Sophos, featured video messages from researchers funded by Against Breast Cancer, each sharing exciting progress towards earlier detection and more effective treatments for breast cancer.
Professor Paul Skipp discussed the continued development of miONCO-Dx, a 12-cancer early detection test – created as a result of our 5-year ABC Discover project – including its application to detect metastatic breast cancer at an early stage.
Dr Charlie Birts described how the University of Southampton team are tackling the challenge of secondary spread breast cancer and identifying ways to stop it, whilst Dr Lina Hacker highlighted how changes in tumour oxygen levels can make breast cancer more aggressive and explored how these changes may be prevented.
Dr Mark Powell, Research Manager at Against Breast Cancer, also spoke about other recent developments making headlines. In a major step forward – the drug Anastrozole – traditionally used to treat breast cancer – is now available on the NHS as a preventative option. Up to 290,000 post-menopausal women could benefit from this repurposing of anastrozole which was shown in an 11-year study to reduce breast cancer cases by 49%.
Mark also spotlighted an exciting new NHS trial testing if artificial intelligence (AI) can transform mammogram screening. The study will involve nearly 700,000 women and will test whether AI can speed up the analysis of mammograms, allowing radiologists to screen more patients, reduce waiting times, and ultimately save more lives.
The Against Breast Cancer funded researchers also gave their heartfelt thanks to the volunteers, trustees, supporters and staff for their dedication and incredible fundraising efforts that is vital for this ground-breaking research.
Against Breast Cancer would like to thank Heather for arranging our visit and Sophos for letting us use their excellent facilities free of charge.