Targeting non-cancer cells to stop secondary breast cancer

When breast cancer spreads to other parts of the body, it’s called secondary breast cancer. While it can be treated, it currently can’t be cured, so it’s vital that our researchers understand secondary breast cancer more. 

This could lead to new and better ways to treat and prevent the disease, giving more people with breast cancer more precious time to live.

Breast cancer can use non-cancer cells, called stromal cells, to help it survive, grow and spread. These stromal cells play a big role in allowing the cancer to grow secondary tumours in new locations around the body. 

Clare’s research focuses on understanding how stromal cells can help breast cancer spread. She hopes it could uncover new ways to prevent or treat secondary breast cancer. 

Clare and her team are focusing on 3 main projects:

1. Interfering with stromal cells that help secondary tumours

   The team previously found that some types of stromal cells make proteins called Endo180 and endosialin. Targeting these proteins reduced tumour growth and stopped secondary tumours growing in other organs. 
   
   Clare and her team are now making antibody-based immunotherapies to target these proteins. They hope that their research could lead to clinical trials testing the antibodies – both to prevent secondary breast cancer from developing and to treat it when it does.
   
   
   
2. Targeting stromal cells to stop secondary triple negative breast cancer 
   
   Triple negative breast cancer can be more aggressive and has fewer targeted treatments than other types. Some triple negative breast cancers make Endo180 and endosialin. Clare wants to test if the immunotherapies she is developing could work for this type of breast cancer.  
   
   The team is testing these immunotherapies in mice with triple negative breast cancer. They’re doing this in combination with standard treatments like chemotherapy, radiotherapy and other immunotherapies. This could lead to better ways to stop this type of breast cancer from spreading and growing in other organs.
    
   
   
3. Finding new ways to treat invasive lobular secondary breast cancer
   
   Invasive lobular breast cancer makes up around 15% of all breast cancers. And they tend to be oestrogen receptor positive. But there's evidence that sometimes lobular breast cancers don’t respond as well to some treatments, so we need to find better ways to treat it. 
   
   Clare and her team are investigating the lobular breast cancer cells that spread around the lungs and abdomen. Using samples from our biobank, the team is studying the genetic makeup of the cells to find new drug targets. Finally, they’ll test if targeting the stromal cells is an effective treatment for this type of secondary breast cancer.
   
   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.
   
   

Clare’s research can help us to better understand how cancer and non-cancer cells interact with each other. Her work could lead to improved treatments for secondary breast cancer, giving people with the incurable disease a better quality of life. And it could even save lives in the future by preventing breast cancer from spreading in the first place.

Thousands. We estimate that over 61,000 people are living with secondary breast cancer in the UK. 

Clare is addressing an urgent need to find better treatments to stop secondary triple negative and lobular breast cancers. This could help the estimated 16,500 people diagnosed with either of these types of breast cancer every year in the UK.