WHAT ELSE IS NEW?

Important developments in breast cancer research are emerging every day. Here’s what’s on our radar at the moment.

NEW-WAVE THERAPIES: Killing cancer with engineered viruses is a thing. It sounds a bit sci-fi, but it could soon be the norm. Japan has recently given the green light to a new drug for brain tumours that uses a genetically modified herpes virus to selectively seek out and destroy cancer cells. This kind of treatment, known as oncolytic virus therapy, is already in use for skin cancer and could be applied to many other types of cancer, including breast cancer.

IMMUNOTHERAPY: This treatment harnesses the body’s own immune system to fight cancer and is “coming of age in breast cancer”, says Dr Zdenkowski, with trials showing improved outcomes for metastatic cancers (where cancer cells spread from the place where they first formed to another part of the body). “We need to understand more about which patients this type of treatment is most likely to benefit, and Breast Cancer Trials is conducting research to help move this class of drugs into the clinic,” he explains.

HORMONE THERAPY: Not all breast cancers are the same, so understanding which drugs work best for certain types and stages of breast cancer is vital. Experimental research from the University of Adelaide and Sydney’s Garvan Institute has found that treatments that stimulate androgen receptors may be more effective than the current standard care for oestrogen-driven metastatic cancer. Therapies using androgens (a sex hormone found in men and women) aren’t new, but this study has discovered they have potent antitumour activity in all oestrogen-receptorpositive breast cancers and can be combined with existing treatments for more powerful results. And they don’t come with any nasty side effects. In fact, androgen therapy can build muscle and bone and improve energy and mood. Clinical trials are now in the works, offering new hope for breast cancer patients.