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Rik’s hope
March 1st, 2010
Hope for breast cancer sufferers – the National Breast Cancer Foundation has awarded a $5 million collaborative grant to SVI’s Professor Erik (Rik) Thompson to further his team’s research into breast cancer recurrence. Rik tells us about his research.
What is recurrent breast cancer?
In about 25% of breast cancer patients, cancer cells spread to other parts of the body and form a new cancer deposit – a recurrent cancer. The most common sites for these recurrent tumours are the bones, liver and lungs. Around 2,700 Australian women die each year from breast cancer, and all of them have suffered recurrence. Breast cancer also affects a small number of men.
Why does breast cancer recur?
We don’t currently understand why it recurs in some people and not in others. We also can’t predict when it will recur - it may recur 10 years, or even longer, after initial diagnosis. Our collaborative program builds on a new idea that may answer these questions.
Can you describe your project?
The spreading of cancer cells from the breast to other parts of the body can be likened to certain events during early development (before birth), where cells in the embryo move around to ultimately form new organs. To do so, these cells change their shape, behaviour and molecular make-up. We have had evidence for some time that this process may also be used by breast cancer cells to form a recurrent tumour. By targeting this process, we hope to be able to eradicate the cells that have migrated away from the primary tumour, and so prevent recurrence. This would be a big step forward, because we currently don’t understand why or when breast cancer may recur in individual patients, and early diagnosis leads to better prognosis.
How is this different from other research into breast cancer?
The developmental process that we study in breast cancer is a relatively new direction in breast cancer research. Our team is made up of 26 researchers across six Australian states and territories and a highly dedicated Consumer Advocate who has first hand experience of recurrent breast cancer. The team includes clinicians, medicinal chemists and biotechnologists, and has the flexibility to accommodate other qualified individuals over the next 5 years as we bring our plan to fruition.
What do you hope to achieve?
By being able to predict the likelihood of breast cancer recurrence and developing better therapies against it, this project has huge potential to save lives and to lighten the burden of uncertainty for women and men with breastcancer, and their families. Rik’s program is called the EMPathy Breast Cancer Network and more information is available at