Otago breast cancer researcher gains grant
UNIVERSITY of Otago researcher Heather Cunliffe has been granted $133,263 to investigate ways to halt the spread of cancer in women with breast cancer, and to improve patient survival.
‘‘It’s nice to be able to provide hope and to be able to provide options.
‘‘We’re all scared about running out of options,’’ she said yesterday.
Breast cancer causes more than 600 deaths in New Zealand each year, mainly through the spread of the cancer to other organs, known as metastasis.
Dr Cunliffe’s study is aimed at improving risk assessment for metastasis at first diagnosis, and to find new ways to halt tumour spread.
In previous research, Dr Cunliffe and her team had identified a protein, Fn14, which appeared to be a predictor for the development of metastasis in breast cancer.
Any eventual later clinical trials of better prognostic testing and the development of any new therapy would take some years to complete.
But she was ‘‘quite optimistic’’ that the promising protein work could lead to ways to ‘‘make smarter decisions quicker’’ to identify patients at higher risk of cancer spread, and who needed early treatment.
She also hoped to find ‘‘robust evidence’’ that could point the way to future smart new treatments, perhaps targeting the protein.
‘‘If we can figure out the mechanism [for cancer spread], we can figure out where to put the roadblocks, or where to intervene,’’ she said.
A senior lecturer in pathology, Dr Cunliffe has undertaken breast cancer research for the past 20 years.
She is is one of four researchers throughout the country to share $720,489 in funding through the Breast Cancer Research in New Zealand initiative for this year. The other recipients are: Dr Robert Weinkove, Malaghan Institute of Medical Research, $248,900; Prof John Miller, Victoria University of Wellington, $100,000; and Dr Dean Singleton, University of Auckland, $237,494.