Dr Jennifer Munkley and Dr Ning Wang’s team are testing a new immunotherapy to treat both metastatic breast and prostate cancers which have spread to the bone.
In this section
What's the challenge?
If breast and prostate cancers spread, the bone is one of the most common places they can spread to. In the bone, metastatic (or secondary) breast cancer can cause pain and fractures. Currently, metastatic breast and prostate cancer can be treated, but it can’t be cured.
Immunotherapies have been one of the biggest breakthroughs in cancer treatment in the last decade. They activate the immune system against cancer. But so far, they don't always work for breast and prostate cancers that have spread in the bone.
We need to find what stops immunotherapies from working and improve them – so that people with breast and prostate cancers in the bone can benefit from them too.
We’re studying a new drug that is currently in trials for lung cancer. We have evidence it could also help to treat both breast and prostate cancers that have spread to the bone. With this project, we want to accelerate new immunotherapy treatments that could give people more, and better, time with their loved ones.
Dr Ning Wang
The science behind the project
Jennifer and Ning are looking at a protein called Siglec-15. It’s found in high levels in bones where cancer has spread. And it can supress the immune system in the bone, helping cancer cells to grow.
Siglec-15 is also involved in the process that causes the breakdown of old bone. This is a natural process in all our bodies, where bone tissue breaks down over time and is replaced with new bone tissue. But if the breakdown of the bone is too active when there’s high levels of Siglec-15, it may make it easier for cancer cells to grow.
So targeting Siglec-15 could have a double benefit – boosting the immune system and preventing cancer cells from growing in the bone. The team are studying samples from people with breast and prostate cancers to understand more about how Siglec-15 stops immune cells from working and affects the bone.
They’re also measuring the levels of Siglec-15 in primary and metastatic breast and prostate tumours. The researchers hope this test could be used in the future to predict who will benefit from a new treatment targeting Siglec-15.
Finally, they’re using antibodies to block Siglec-15. This treatment is already being tested in clinical trials for lung cancer - and they’ve shown that it’s safe. So the team are testing if it can stop breast and prostate cancer growing in the bone of mice – either on its own or in combination with existing immunotherapies.
And if successful, the researchers hope to take the treatment to clinical trials for people with breast and prostate cancers.
What difference will this project make?
This research could lead to a new treatment that may give people with metastatic breast and prostate cancers more time and a better quality of life.
How many people could this project help?
Each year in the UK, 63,000 people are diagnosed with prostate cancer. And around 55,000 people are diagnosed with breast cancer.
Most of these cancers won’t spread, but if they do, the bone is the most common place they can spread to.
Bone metastasis collaboration fund
This research project is jointly funded by Breast Cancer Now and Prostate Cancer Research. If breast and prostate cancers spread, one of the most common places they spread to is to the bone. We’ve come together to tackle metastatic cancer that has spread to the bone.