Breast cancer is the most commonly diagnosed cancer in women in Australia*.
Among the nearly 21,000 people diagnosed with breast cancer each year, more than 2,000 of those people will die.
That's why researchers are always looking for new ways to treat it and help people feel better.
Recently, Dr Joanna Achinger-Kawecka and her team have made some exciting discoveries that could change how we treat breast cancer.
Challenges of treating breast cancer
Breast cancer happens when cells in the breast start to grow out of control. There are different types of breast cancer, but one common type is called oestrogen receptor-positive or ER+ breast cancer. This type of cancer grows in response to the hormone oestrogen.
Clinicians often treat ER+ breast cancer with medicines that block oestrogen, called endocrine therapy. But sometimes, the cancer cells find a way to keep growing even without oestrogen, and the medicine stops working. This is called endocrine resistance, and it makes treating breast cancer much harder.
Dr Achinger-Kawecka and her team believe that changes to how the DNA is organised inside the cancer cells might be why the cancer becomes resistant, known as epigenetic changes. Unlike changes to the DNA code itself, epigenetic changes don't change the DNA sequence but can turn genes on or off.
Because these changes are reversible, scientists think they might be able to find ways to change them back and make the cancer cells respond to treatment again.
Finding alternative therapies
Dr. Joanna Achinger-Kawecka and her team wanted to find out if they could use a new kind of medicine, called epigenetic therapy, to treat ER+ breast cancer that has become resistant to endocrine therapy.
The team conducted experiments in the lab using special patient-derived animal models, which serve as small versions of a patient's tumour. This helps scientists understand how the cancer behaves and how it might respond to new treatments.
Despite facing COVID-19 related delays, the researchers made a few exciting discoveries:
- Stopping cancer growth: They found that epigenetic therapy could slow down or even stop the growth of breast cancer tumours in their models. This was a big deal because it showed that targeting the way DNA is organised in cells can help control the cancer growth1.
- A new way to study cancer: The team also developed a new method to look at how DNA changes in individual cells when they are treated with epigenetic therapy. This method will help them understand how different cells in a tumour respond to the treatment and could lead to more personalised cancer treatments.
- Possibly reversing resistance: Most importantly, the research suggests that it might be possible to reverse the resistance to endocrine therapy by using epigenetic drugs. This could help more patients benefit from existing treatments and improve their chances of recovery.
What's next for Dr. Achinger-Kawecka and her team?
Dr Achinger-Kawecka and her team are continuing their work towards a cancer free future, and they have some big plans for the future.
- More testing: They will continue to test the epigenetic therapy in more models to make sure it works well and is safe. They want to see if combining this therapy with other standard treatments, like endocrine therapy, could make it even more effective.
- Starting clinical trials: The next big step is to start clinical trials. This means testing the new treatment in people, to see if it works as well in patients as it does in the lab. Clinical trials are critical as they help ensure that new treatments are both safe and effective for everyone.
- Finding new targets: The researchers also want to look for other changes in cancer cells that could be targeted with epigenetic therapy. By understanding more about how these cells work, they can develop new ways to treat breast cancer and other types of cancer.
By finding new ways to treat cancer cells that have become resistant to current therapies, Dr Achinger-Kawecka and her team are giving hope to those affected by cancer.
The work continues, but with each discovery, we move closer to a cancer free future, where cancer can be managed more effectively, and those affected by cancer can lead healthier, longer lives.
Thanks to your consistent support and generosity, Cancer Council NSW can fund crucial research projects like these.
Dr Achinger-Kawecka's research has been funded by a Cancer Council project grant awarded in 2020.
To support more life-saving cancer research and programs, consider making a donation today.
*not including non-melanoma skin cancer
