Researchers have engineered gold nanoparticles to target blood vessels in tumours and make them leaky so that chemotherapy drugs can get in and do their work more easily. Tumours have their own blood supply and it is already known that these blood vessels behave differently from those in normal tissue.
Women with obesity when diagnosed with early breast cancer have a higher risk of recurrence or a second cancer compared with women whose weight is in the normal range, but losing weight after a diagnosis can be difficult.
Ribociclib (Kisqali) is already used to treat advanced hormone receptor-positive (HR-positive) breast cancer. Now new research has shown it can also reduce the risk of recurrence when used in early breast cancer.
While drugs given during chemotherapy can help to combat nausea, more than half of patients also suffer from delayed nausea and vomiting. This kicks in after chemo has finished and can last for days. Some oncologists had reported that pantoprazole, a proton pump inhibitor which reduces stomach acid, was helpful for these patients. However, others were not convinced.
Otago University PhD student Hui Yee Yao is collaborating with Auckland-based medical oncologist Dr Catherine Han on a research project to provide insights on how New Zealanders diagnosed with breast cancer choose their treatments. Hui Yee is looking for survey participants now. Click here to learn more.
Dr Emma Nolan is a breast cancer scientist who recently moved back to New Zealand after training and working in overseas labs for the last 11 years. During her PhD, Emma helped to discover a potential preventative medication, Denosumab, that could potentially prevent or delay breast cancer arising in high-risk women who inherit a faulty BRCA1 gene.
BCAC member group Breast Cancer Cure has announced a new partnership with Cancer Research Trust to fund New Zealand research into breast cancer. Both organisations are philanthropic funders that have raised and granted millions of dollars to local cancer research over the last 25 years. The new funding will enable at least two new breast cancer research projects to be added to the work already being supported by Breast Cancer Cure.
European experts now recommend that breast density be reported with every mammogram and that women with extremely dense breasts be advised to undergo additional screening, given their greater risk of breast cancer.
Research has shown that certain lifestyle factors and health behaviours can have a positive impact upon quality of life, chronic disease risk factors and other health related areas, for women after cancer.
A team of leading Australian and New Zealand health researchers is undertaking a study to pilot a positive lifestyle intervention in New Zealand women. This aims to improve health and wellness in younger women after treatment for cancer.
