BCRF extends funding to support the development of novel therapeutics for triple-negative breast cancer

BCRF extends funding to support the development of novel therapeutics for triple-negative breast cancer

The Breast Cancer Research Foundation (BCRF) has extended funding for Elisa Port, MD, and Hanna Irie, MD, PhD, to investigate new therapeutic approaches targeting aggressive triple-negative breast cancer.

The final installment of $225,000 brings the total over the past nine years to nearly $2 million. It will fund research into the immune microenvironment of triple-negative breast cancer to identify new strategies to improve anticancer immune responses for this aggressive breast cancer, for which there have traditionally been few treatment options.

We are pleased and grateful to receive this grant from the Foundation, which will leverage the expertise and commitment of both the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai and the Dubin Breast Center to develop novel therapeutics for a diverse group of patients with high-grade breast cancer.”

Dr. Elisa Port, chief of breast surgery at Mount Sinai Health System and director of the Dubin Breast Center at the Tisch Cancer Institute at Icahn Mount Sinai

“This funding also recognizes our innovative efforts to advance the field's understanding of this disease, such as our Breast Cancer Biorepository, an impressive bank of breast tumor tissue and blood samples from patients, allowing us to make breakthroughs in research,” said Dr. Port. “This funding, combined with our extensive resources and knowledge, provides us with invaluable support in identifying treatments that could have significant benefits for our patients and millions of women worldwide.”

Typically diagnosed in women under the age of 50, triple-negative breast cancer is a subtype of breast cancer that has an estimated prevalence of between 10 and 15 percent of all breast cancer cases. It can be particularly difficult to treat, partly because it is aggressive and therefore carries a higher risk of relapse, but also because available treatment options are limited. Although immunotherapy is increasingly being used in the treatment of triple-negative breast cancer, not all patients respond to or benefit from this approach. Therefore, more research is needed in patients to understand how their immune system interacts with breast cancer cells and how it works to control cancer growth and spread both within the tumor itself and to other parts of the body.

“Our BCRF-funded studies will examine these interactions between breast cancer cells and the immune system, with a specific focus on cancer stem cells,” said Dr. Irie, associate professor of medicine (hematology and medical oncology) and oncological sciences at the Dubin Breast Center. "Breast cancer stem cells are less likely to be eliminated by chemotherapy or immunotherapy, and our goal is to develop strategies that simultaneously kill triple-negative breast cancer stem cells and enhance the anti-tumor immune response. These effects in preclinical models of triple-negative breast cancer, and we are working to translate them clinically so we can achieve better outcomes for our patients."

Founded in 1993 by Evelyn H. Lauder, BCRF is the world's largest private funder of breast cancer research. By investing in the brightest minds in science – those who study prevention, diagnosis, treatment, survival and metastasis – and fostering interdisciplinary collaboration, BCRF is accelerating the field to find the answers urgently needed to end breast cancer.

Source:

Mount Sinai Health System

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