Since its establishment, Breast Cancer Cure has funded many significant research projects in NZ. Research will find a Breast Cancer Cure.
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The incidence of breast cancer increases as women age and is highest in women aged 50 to 54. While women over 50 are most at risk, around 11% of breast cancers occur in women between the age of 25 and 44. Māori and Pacific women are at a greater risk of dying of breast cancer, with Māori women 40% more likely to be diagnosed with breast cancer and 60% more likely to die from the disease when compared to non Māori women.
Research continues to be pivotal in developing our understanding and preventing, managing and curing cancer. It is at the heart of progress made to date, and essential we continue to drive improvements, to stop people dying from the disease.
1 WOMAN
every 3 hours will be diagnosed with breast cancer. That’s over 670 women per year. 95% of whom have no family history of the disease.
Where the money goes
Breast Cancer Cure has funded over $11M of research in New Zealand over 25 years ranging from studies into the use of antibodies as a targeted treatment for controlling growth of breast cancer cells, to early detection of breast cancer (ongoing with 4 potential blood markers), to research in the field of immunotherapy and the harnessing of our own immune systems to combat breast cancer.
Dr Kirsty Danielson
Breast reconstruction is an important part of the treatment process for women with breast cancer.
Associate Professor Vyacheslav Filichev
Drug resistance is a serious barrier to the treatment of breast cancer, leading to metastasis and cancer reoccurrences.
Dr Vanessa Lattimore
The ideal strategy for controlling and reducing the social impact of disease is effective prevention.
Dr Gavin Harris
Digital pathology is the reviewing of tissue slides on a computer monitor rather than using microscopes.
Dr Barbara Lipert
The antibody-drug conjugate trastuzumab emtansine (T-DM1; Kadcyla) extends the survival of HER2-positive metastatic breast cancer patients.
Dr Logan Walker
The future of successful genetic screening in New Zealand requires increased sensitivity and specificity of tests, and informed clinical management for high-risk breast cancer families.
Dr Annette Lasham
Early detection of breast cancer recurrence is critical for saving lives. We have identified two molecules, found in the blood of 250 patients at the time of surgery for breast cancer, that were very good at predicting which of these women would have a relapse before five years.
Dr Robert Weinkove
The aim of this novel and ambitious project is to develop potent new vaccines with potential to prevent recurrence of HER2 positive breast cancer.
Dr Dean Singleton
It is now understood that Triple Negative breast cancer has many biologic nuances and a heterogeneity not previously understood.
Professor John Miller
This research team combines leading expertise in synthetic and medicinal chemistry and cancer biology.
Dr Heather Cunliffe
The presence of a protein called Fn14 on the surface of 75% of invasive breast cancers, has been shown to be strongly prognostic for distant metastasis, with the strongest association in HER2/neu positive and Triple Negative breast cancers.
Dr Anita Dunbier
Treatments that stimulate the immune system to attack tumours have revolutionised the treatment of some cancer types.
Dr Jo Perry
One of the most successful strategies for treating breast cancer has been the use of humanised monoclonal antibodies to target secreted growth factors or cell surface receptors whose function has been upregulated in the tumour.
Associate Professor David Barker
Many patients with metastatic breast cancer do not respond to conventional chemotherapy and better strategies to treat these patients are urgently needed.
Dr Francis Hunter
Over 3000 diagnoses and 600 deaths are attributable to breast cancer in New Zealand each year.
Dr Tracy Hale
Metastasis is the primary cause of death in breast cancer patients as it refractory to current therapies.
Although breast cancer cells have heterogeneous properties, all of them have a high nutritional demand.
Dr Anita Dunbier
Every year, more than 2000 New Zealand women are diagnosed with oestrogen receptor positive breast cancer.
Associate Professor Logan Walker
Identification of cancer-causing mutations in the breast cancer susceptibility genes, BRCA1 and BRCA2, has well-defined and actionable implications for disease prevention.
Dr Annette Lasham
This translational grant proposes to build on exciting BCRT-funded science that has led to the identification of two RNA markers in the blood, which together may be able to indicate whether a woman has breast cancer or not.
Professor Parry Guilford
The inactivation of tumour suppressor genes is the most common of all genetic events in cancer but not one that can be targeted by conventional therapy, because the tumour suppressor protein is lost from the cancer cell.
Dr Jo Perry
Localised production of growth hormone (GH) is detectable in a variety of different human cancers, including breast cancer, and this is associated with an increased risk of metastasis and reduced survival for breast cancer patients.
Dr Dong Xu-Lui
Breast cancer affects 1 in 9 New Zealand women. Anti-estrogens such as tamoxifen have been used to treat estrogen receptor positive (ER+) breast cancer and reduce the annual death rate by approximately one third.
Dr Anita Dunbier
Every year, more than 2000 New Zealand women are diagnosed with oestrogen receptor positive breast cancer.