Scientist Aims To Improve Chemotherapy Breast Cancer Treatments, University Of Wolverhampton

Main Category: Breast Cancer
Also Included In: Cancer / Oncology
Article Date: 07 Oct 2008 - 4:00 PDT

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A University of Wolverhampton scientist has received a grant worth £15,000 from leading research charity Breast Cancer Campaign to investigate improvements to chemotherapy treatment.

Around 40 per cent of cancers are resistant to chemotherapy and some patients will see their breast cancer return.

Dr Weiguang Wang aims to improve the outcome for these patients by studying whether resistance can be prevented or reversed. He believes a molecule called NF-kB may be responsible for stopping chemotherapy from working. He will investigate whether treating breast cancer cells with disulfiram, a drug used in the treatment of alcoholism and which specifically targets NF-kB, will make cells more sensitive to chemotherapy.

The pilot grant is the first awarded to the University of Wolverhampton by Breast Cancer Campaign, one of the UK's leading breast cancer research charities.

Dr Wang, from the University's Research Institute in Healthcare Science, said: "I am delighted to be the first Wolverhampton-based scientist to be awarded a Breast Cancer Campaign grant. I hope this study will lead to the development of a new drug which will improve breast cancer chemotherapy in the clinic."

Pamela Goldberg, Chief Executive, Breast Cancer Campaign, said: "Despite the availability of many effective treatments almost 12,500 women will still die from breast cancer each year. It is therefore vital that scientists look at ways to improve the effectiveness of current treatments, such as chemotherapy, as well as developing new drugs."

The grant forms part of £2.3 million awarded to 20 projects around the UK and will fill one of the research gaps identified by the country's top breast cancer experts in a recent study carried out by the charity.

About Breast Cancer Campaign

Breast Cancer Campaign aims to beat breast cancer by funding innovative world-class research to understand how breast cancer develops, leading to improved diagnosis, treatment, prevention and cure. Currently it supports 114 research projects, worth over £14.5 million, in 46 centres of excellence across the UK

Breast cancer is the most common cancer in the UK and accounts for nearly one in three of all cancers in women. In the UK, almost 46,000 new cases of breast cancer are diagnosed each year - that's around 125 a day.

Breast Cancer Campaign's publication: "Evaluation of the current knowledge limitations in breast cancer research: A gap analysis" - can be viewed here.

http://www.breastcancercampaign.org

University of Wolverhampton