Identifying new ways to prevent and treat secondary breast cancer

Breast cancer is usually treated with a combination of surgery, radiotherapy, chemotherapy and targeted therapies. But sometimes breast cancer cells can resist these treatments, spread and form tumours in other parts of the body. When this happens, it's called secondary breast cancer. While secondary breast cancers can be treated, they currently can't be cured. 

Breast cancer cells must adapt to be able to spread to other parts of the body and survive there. So, researchers are looking for new ways to target these complex processes to stop secondary tumours from forming.

Victoria and her team are investigating how the inner structure of breast cancer cells and the environment around them helps the disease spread around the body. 

They’re studying the inner structure in breast cancer cells that controls the shape of the cell and its movement, known as the cytoskeleton. Cancer cells can change their cytoskeleton to allow them to squeeze through smaller gaps and spread throughout the body. 

The researchers are also looking at the impact of the structural environment surrounding breast cancer cells, known as the extracellular matrix. It can be very different depending on where the cancer cells have spread to. 

Ultimately, the team want to determine what features inside and outside the breast cancer cell make the disease more aggressive. With this knowledge, they then want to target these features to find new ways to prevent and treat secondary breast cancer. 

Victoria and her team are focusing on 4 projects:

1. Studying the role of the structural environment surrounding triple negative breast cancer  
   
   Victoria and her team are studying how the structural environment affects how triple negative breast cancer spreads and resists treatment.
   
   She’s investigating how triple negative breast cancer cells can survive in other areas of the body, and how different environments (like the lungs, liver or brain) can support these cells. To do this, the team are carrying out experiments both on cells and in mice.  
   
   The researchers also are studying how the environment outside breast cancer cells and their inner structure can help inactive cancer cells that have spread around the body to wake up and grow. Lastly, they also want to know if these features can help triple negative breast cancer cells resist chemotherapy. 
   
   
2. Investigating if the cytoskeleton regulates communication between cancer and non-cancer cells 
   
   Victoria’s team is studying how triple negative breast cancer cells communicate with their environment after spreading to other parts of the body. They’re focusing on how the cancer cell’s cytoskeleton, and especially a protein called Myosin II, affects the way these cells send signals to nearby immune and blood vessel cells. 
   
   They’re also looking at how this communication changes in different organs. This way, they’re hoping to find ways to predict whether breast cancer will return or respond to treatment. 
   
   
3. Finding ways to treat triple negative breast cancer
   
   Victoria and her team are testing different treatments in the lab to see if they can effectively target triple negative breast cancer cells that have spread, and the environment around them.
   
   Using insights from their other lab research, they’re testing a range of different treatments, including drugs that can turn certain genes on or off or affect the cytoskeleton. 
   
   They’re also working to find ways to target non-cancer cells that help breast cancer spread. And they’re looking at how we can combine immunotherapies with other treatments to target secondary breast cancer. 
   
   
4. Better understanding secondary lobular breast cancer
   
   Victoria and her team are also studying how the cytoskeleton and the structural environment around the cells can affect the ability of lobular breast cancer to spread and survive in other parts of the body. 
   
   This research is part of the Lobular Initiative at our research centre. It’s a collaborative project that aims to understand lobular breast cancer more and find better treatments for it. 

Victoria’s team hopes to further uncover what features of the cancer cell’s inner structure and the environment around them can make the disease more aggressive. They also hope to find new ways to target these features, which could lead to new treatments for secondary breast cancer.

We estimate that around 61,000 people are currently living with incurable secondary breast cancer in the UK. And in around 5% of people, breast cancer has already spread by the time it's diagnosed. 

This research has the potential to find new treatments that can stop the disease spreading, thereby saving thousands of people from developing incurable breast cancer.