Dr Frances Turrell is investigating the communication between dormant cancer cells and immune cells called macrophages. Understanding this may be the key to finding out what keeps dormant cells alive and what reawakens them. This could help them work out how to stop it.
In this section
What's the challenge?
With most types of primary breast cancer, recurrence after 5 years post treatment is unlikely. But oestrogen receptor positive (ER-positive) breast cancers can return many years, even decades, after treatment. When the disease returns in different parts of the body, it’s called secondary (metastatic) breast cancer. There’s currently no cure for secondary breast cancer and we don’t know why some patients with ER-positive breast cancer relapse.
I have focused my research on identifying changes in the immune system and how these affect breast cancer dormancy and late recurrence. If we can identify any of these changes in the blood, blood tests will be an easy and non-invasive way to monitor patients and identify people that are at risk of their breast cancer coming back. This will help us identify which patients require continued treatment.
Dr Frances Turrell
What's the science behind this project?
Some breast cancer cells that spread to other organs can hibernate for years after treatment until something causes them to reawaken and cause secondary breast cancer. These cells are known as dormant cancer cells.
Frances’ previous work showed that in an aged or damaged lung, areas of the lung can trigger the reawakening of these dormant cells. Now she’s interested in finding out how the dormant cells communicate with a type of immune cell called a macrophage in these areas of the lung.
Usually, researchers use young mice to understand how cancer develops. But most of the time breast cancer occurs in older women. Frances’ team want to know if the macrophages found in older mice are different in the areas of the lung where dormant cells reawaken. The team aims to understand why these macrophages interact with dormant cancer cells and identify if this communication is what keeps dormant cells alive and reawakens them.
The team will also test the blood of older mice who have secondary breast cancer and see if they can notice changes in the immune system that are linked with the dormant cells reawakening.
What difference will this project make?
By understanding the role of macrophages in reawakening dormant cells, they might be able to target macrophages to destroy the dormant cells. This could lead to future treatments which prevent the late recurrence of secondary breast cancer in ER-positive breast cancer patients. And by looking for changes in the blood, the team could develop a diagnostic test to monitor patients and find those at risk of secondary breast cancer sooner.
How many people could this project help?
Around 80% of all breast cancers are ER-positive. That’s 44,000 people in the UK every year.
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