Mater breast tumour pathologist, Dr Cameron Snell, is currently doing research which could hold the key to improving treatment therapies for women with late stage breast cancer.
Currently, all patients that have positive estrogen receptor forms of breast cancer—found in approximately 75 per cent of all breast cancer patients—are treated with hormonal therapy. However, only half of these patients will respond to the therapy. These women currently have to undergo treatment, and its subsequent side effects—such as hot nausea, headaches, joint pain and stiffness, hot flushes and mood changes—before waiting to see how their cancer responds.
Dr Snell hopes to develop a test which will identify which women will respond positively to hormone therapy. This will enable clinicians to rapidly personalise treatment plans for each breast cancer patient.
Dr Snell’s research is extremely promising and has the potential to change the course of breast cancer treatment for women not just at Mater, but around the world.
These new developments in the breast cancer research space simply would not have been possible without the support of people like you.