On the pulse....for women affected by breast cancer

On the pulse

Cancerkin’s News….
Children's Corner opening event
Friday 7th May marks the opening of our brand new Children’s Corner generously funded by the Hampstead Women’s Group. This fabulous group of dynamic women responded to our calls for a safe, fun and stimulating environment for children of our patients to play in whilst their mothers receive treatment. Life President, Santilal Parbhoo will be here to officially open the play area, where a plaque is mounted honouring the generosity and kindness of the Hampstead Women’s Group. The opening will be followed by a coffee and cake morning. Look out for pictures of the event during May on our Facebook and Flicker accounts.


In the News…
Scientist predict the end of breast cancer as we know it in a decades time
In 2005 Breakthrough Breast Cancer, the UK’s only dedicated breast cancer research centre discovered a new class of cancer drugs called PARP inhibitors. 5 years later the resident scientists are now putting together an army of drugs aimed at breast cancer. With the knowledge that breast cancer is not one disease but many, each with its own individualities, the lines of research and attack are extensive, but progress is being made. Professor Clare Isacke, deputy director of the centre looks positive, saying in specific reference to aggressive forms of cancerTop of For’ st arting to be picked off Bottom of Form ‘understanding the tumour biology better you can find new targets.”

Some of the work at Breakthrough includes the following two programmes. Having found that cancer-created blood vessels contain a substance called endosialin, which normal blood vessels do not, and acknowledging why endosialin is vital to the formation of tumour blood vessels, Nicole Simonavicius is on the road to producing ground breaking research due for release next year. Dr Nirupa Murugaesu, a breast oncologist at St Bartholomew’s Hospital, too is making progress trying to find clues about the cellular processes that cause breast cancer to spread to other parts of the body (metastasis).

Indeed secondary cancers are a priority of the centre, with very little still known about these cancers, even though they are the ones that usually kill people. Murugaesu is extremely positive about her research suggesting that it would be reasonable to suggest that through the work of Breakthrough Breast Cancer and others around the globe, breast cancer will cease to be a killer in just over a decade: “There isn’t going to be one wonder drug. But we will be giving women cocktails of drugs to weaken the cancer in multiple ways. In an ideal world, we’d prevent or cure breast cancer, but living with it as a chronic disease is considerably better than dying of it.”
Read the full article here along with the debate as to why breast cancer receives more funding than any other cancer form.

Lauren Newton 14th April 2010
l.newton@cancerkin.org.uk