The University of Sheffield’s scientists are leading one of two teams which are to receive a bonus £500,000 each for their work on what activates dormant cancer cells which cause recurring breast cancer.
Following remission, breast cancer cells can remain in the body in an undetectable state of dormancy. Once awakened, they can circulate in the bloodstream to cause tumours in other parts of the body, called secondary breast cancer, which can be treated but not cured. This is an illness that affects around 61,000 people in the UK.
The University of Sheffield’s School of Medicine and Population Health’s Professor Penelope Ottewell said: “This funding is enabling us to carry out vital research that tackles the problem of breast cancer returning long after the initial diagnosis, offering hope for better long-term survival and quality of life”. She described the group’s aim of creating a gene therapy to target a specific pathway to prevent dormant breast cancer cells in the bone from waking up and spreading.
Bone can harbour dormant cells and stopping them from becoming active could be crucial in decreasing recurring cancer in other organs. The University’s scientists’ previous research found that a protein called IL-1β is made only by the breast cancer cells that spread to the bone. Therefore, by inhibiting this protein they prevented the awakening and further development of dormant cancer cells. The group seeks to find out whether allowing bone cells to make IL-1Ra, a protein that naturally switches off IL-1β in the body, will block cancer from developing there. Additionally, they will research which bone cells will be useful for creating this protein.
The two groups are working as part of Breast Cancer Now, a charity which researches breast cancer as well as offering support for those affected. £1 million in extra funding has been donated by the Patricia Swannell appeal – an organisation created to raise awareness of secondary breast cancer after Patricia Swannell was diagnosed with secondary breast cancer in 2021, having been cancer free for years prior. She raised over £1 million for Breast Cancer Now in the final 18 months of her life before passing away in 2023. Her husband, Robert Swannell, said “It is great to see the funds now allocated and the work started. Patricia would be so delighted that a seed has been firmly planted.”
Dr Simon Vincent, Breast Cancer Now’s director of research, support and influencing, said “Our hope is that the findings from this research will help ensure people who have been treated for breast cancer can live happy healthy lives without fear of the disease coming back” and thanked the supporters of the Patricia Swannell appeal for their generous donations.
The other £500,000 has been allocated to a team at the University of Manchester, led by Dr Frances Turrell, who will be researching the role of macrophages, a type of white blood cell, in waking up dormant cancer cells that have spread to the lungs.
