FUTURE DREAMS PLEDGES £1 MILLION FOR BREAST CANCER RESEARCH

We are proud to announce our backing of two ground-breaking breast cancer research projects, kicking off our commitment to £1 million of vital research over the next five years. These projects aim to enable better understanding of the disease from early diagnosis to treatment of secondary breast cancer, when the disease has spread and is treatable but no longer curable.

Research Projects

Metastatic Triple Negative Breast Cancer Study

One of the research projects is with Prof Charles Swanton, supporting his work studying metastatic triple negative breast cancer at the world-famous Francis Crick Institute. This project is a collaboration between the Francis Crick Institute, UCL (London), UNICANCER (Paris), Institut Curie (Paris), and Gustave Roussy (Villejuif). It will help transform the understanding of cancer evolution and develop practical steps toward an era of precision medicine.

Breast cancer is the most commonly diagnosed cancer and the main cause of cancer-related mortality in women worldwide, with Triple Negative Breast Cancer (TNBC) accounting for 15-20% of all breast cancer cases. Despite advances in knowledge of underlying genetic alterations and improvements in treatment, 20% to 30% of patients with early breast cancers still relapse with distant metastatic disease.

Prof Swanton and his collaborators are working on 575 tumor samples collected from 250 TNBC patients diagnosed with primary and recurrent breast cancer, included in the TRACERX-TNBC and SCANDARE studies. The TRACERX-TNBC (Tracking Triple Negative Breast Cancer Evolution Through Therapy) project uses cutting-edge analytical techniques to investigate how tumors evolve, metastasize, and develop resistance.

Tumors are heterogeneous or have regional diversity, despite originating from the same tumor. In the TRACERX-TNBC/SCANDARE trials, multiple biopsies were taken over various timepoints and analyzed to observe cancer evolution. The next step involves comparing the original tumors from patients who relapse with those from patients who do not, using advanced analytical techniques to examine changes within and outside the cells. Understanding tumor cell diversity will allow therapeutic manipulation and potentially lead to new treatments.

Prof Swanton, awarded the 2024 Jeantet-Collen Prize for Translational Medicine for his research in cancer genetics and evolution, said: "We are beginning to generate an in-depth portrait of how triple negative breast cancers develop and metastasize, and we are starting to discover key alterations responsible for relapse."

Future Dreams trustee and consultant medical oncologist, Dr. Fharat Raja, said: "It is incredibly exciting to be supporting this immensely important work that enhances our understanding of the evolution of cancer, which will eventually allow us to exploit the findings within the tumors for better treatments."

AI Screening for Breast Cancer Risk

Running alongside this project, Future Dreams is also funding a PhD student at the University of Cambridge to explore whether AI screening could identify women at higher risk of developing breast cancer.

Prof Fiona Gilbert, from the Radiology department of the University of Cambridge, stated: "We are thrilled that Future Dreams is funding a PhD studentship and some senior clinical research time. The purpose of the grant is to assess different artificial intelligence tools which use information from mammograms to predict which women will develop breast cancer over the next five years. This important work will help inform the UK screening program on whether AI tools are ready to be adopted into clinical practice."

"At the moment, all women are treated in the same way and offered three-yearly screening. We are really optimistic that this research will enable us to use AI to tailor screening, identifying which women will benefit from more frequent mammograms or additional supplemental imaging to find cancers earlier. In time, we may be able to adopt protocols that would also better manage patients considered high risk due to dense breasts or a family history of cancer."

Future Dreams trustee and consultant breast and oncoplastic surgeon, Miss Joanna Franks, said: "Being able to use AI in breast screening will be a tremendous breakthrough, enabling quicker assessments, earlier diagnosis, and help for all women, including those at greater risk of developing breast cancer. It will transform the UK screening program."

Future Dreams’ Sam Jacobs said: "We are proud and excited to be funding such excellent and much-needed research projects led by scientists who will make a real difference to the breast cancer community."