'Breakthrough' for triple negative breast cancer patients
New test could save lives and improve survival rates in NI
Last updated 10th Apr 2019
Researchers investigating a rare form of breast cancer say they have made a 'breakthrough,' which could improve outcomes for patients.
Triple negative breast cancer affects around 250 women across Northern Ireland every year.
The disease is a particularly aggressive form of cancer, affects younger women, can be very difficult to treat and survival rates are typically low.
Experts hope their work will lead to the development of a simple test, to tailor treatment to the patient.
Lead author of the study, Dr Niamh Buckley is a lecturer at Queen's University Belfast:
"Triple negative breast cancer is probably the most aggressive form.
"In Northern Ireland there are about 1400 women diagnosed every year with breast cancer.
"If we think about triple negative breast cancer accounting for about 20% of those, we're talking about 250 diagnosed every year.
"While it only accounts for maybe 15-20% of all cancers, it accounts for about half of the deaths though from breast cancer."
Conventional treatments for the disease are typically standard chemotherapy.
This can be a gruelling treatment regime and many patients often suffer severe side effects and their quality of life can be impacted.
Niamh told Downtown Cool FM, this new tests aims to combat those unpleasant symptoms:
"Most people probably have known somebody who's gone through chemotherapy and you'd associate it with loss of hair, weight loss and loss of appetite.
"It really is a very hard treatment to go through.
"If it does treat the cancer effectively, it can be worth it for the patients but we want to make sure we are tailoring the best treatment to the best person so that unwanted side effects can be balanced by that clinical benefit."
It is hoped a test to help identify patients suitable for alternative treatment methods, could ultimately increase survival rates.
Niamh said finding new ways to deal with this form of the disease is crucial:
"It is essential that we find ways to tailor treatment for patients with triple negative breast cancer.
"While we know some women respond very well to the current treatment, others receive very limited clinical benefit and experience all of side effects associated with chemotherapy.
"Our findings will hopefully help us identify women who should be considered for an alternate treatment option and help direct future research to develop new therapies for all women with triple negative breast cancer."
Baroness Delyth Morgan, Chief Executive at Breast Cancer Care and Breast Cancer Now, which funded the study, said:
"This is a very promising discovery.
"It’s really encouraging that testing for levels of NUP98 could help ensure patients get the type of chemotherapy that’s most likely to be effective for them as early as possible.
"With triple negative patients still severely lacking in targeted treatments, it remains one of the greatest areas of unmet need in breast cancer and we urgently need to find new and kinder options to help stop more women dying.
"We look forward to further research to verify these findings and develop a useful test...in the clinic, to help ensure all patients get the most effective therapies for them.
"By trying to tailor chemotherapy treatment in this way, we hope these findings could in future help improve the outcomes of patients with more aggressive and hard-to-treat forms of the disease."