New EU-funded project targeting specific forms of breast cancer well underway
A pan-European project that aims to investigate two specific difficult-to-treat subtypes of breast cancer is now well under way. Breast cancer is the most common cancer in European women with an estimated incidence of 450,322 in 2008. Breast cancer claims the lives of more European women than any other cancer. Overall, 70.5% of women diagnosed with breast cancer between 1995 and 1999 survived for just a further 5 years. Recent work from scientists has shown that at least five subtypes exist, each of which requires different treatment. With a funding boost of nearly EUR 6 million under the 'Health' Theme of the EU's Seventh Framework Programme (FP7), over the course of the project's 5-year lifespan the researchers will investigate two specific difficult-to-treat subtypes of breast cancer that account for one quarter of all cases: Invasive Lobular Carcinoma (ILC), a type of cancer that arises within the milk-producing lobules of the breast and accounts for approximately 10% of breast cancer cases, and Triple Negative (TN) breast cancer, a subtype that lacks the oestrogen, progesterone and HER2 receptors and accounts for approximately 15% of cases. Since its kick-off in January 2011, the RATHER ('Rational Therapy for Breast Cancer: Individualized Treatment for Difficult-to-Treat Breast Cancer Subtypes') project partners - who hail from universities and small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) across Ireland, Spain, France, the Netherlands, Sweden and the United Kingdom - have taken the first steps towards clinical trials for drugs that could target kinases (enzymes involved in cellular signalling) in specific breast cancer subtypes. The RATHER consortium partners aim to better understand these cancers by applying state-of-the-art investigative techniques to 300 clinical samples from patients with these diseases. These samples will then be closely examined using a wide variety of technology platforms in order to identify fundamental differences between different types of diseased breast tissue. The expectation is that some of these differences will turn out to be the main cause of the disease that could be targeted by novel drugs. Once the cause of a condition has been identified scientists have a better chance of developing effective treatments. The scientists in RATHER will be looking closely at kinases, as they suspect these enzymes hold the secrets to the onset of both breast cancer subtypes. By involving both academia and business, any discoveries made can be quickly developed into clinical tools for use in a breast cancer clinical trial. So far the team have already carried out pilot studies to verify that these methods provide samples at a level of quality that is sufficient for each technology platform and they have agreed on and implemented standardised methods for the preparation and shipment of clinical samples. A key principle of the project is harmonisation and the team hopes that by harmonising its methodologies it will be better placed to make comparisons between experimental findings from each organisation which will be key to identifying drugs. To do this, RATHER is using a project database, which will also make date widely available to the public. The project partners are also working in close collaboration with the European Bioinformatics Institute through their shared participation in the EUROCANPLATFORM, an EU-funded project that received EUR 12 million under FP7. Its overall aim is to streamline all aspects of cancer research in Europe - from basic research to pre-clinical and clinical trials. By taking part in EUROCANPLATFORM the RATHER team are ensuring that their database will serve as a resource to the European scientific community for many years to come. Next, the researchers plan to complete the profiling of tissue samples and the initial analysis of the resulting data. Once this is completed, the data from each project partner will be integrated and cross-examined with the aim of identifying the key genetic mutations or other anomalous molecular processes involving kinases in ILC and TN breast cancer.For more information, please visit:RATHER:http://www.ratherproject.com
Countries
Spain, France, Ireland, Netherlands, Sweden, United Kingdom