Director: Professor Jean Abraham
Breast Cancer Virtual Institute leads: Professor Jean Abraham and Professor Jason Carroll
Embedded within the Cambridge Cancer Research Hospital, the Charlotte Lockhart Precision Breast Cancer Institute will focus on the most prevalent cancer in the UK.
The Institute will bring together experts in breast cancer research and care. By working together, they aim to improve survival for people with all types of breast cancer and reduce unnecessary treatment.
Everyone treated at the Institute will have the opportunity to take part in research. This research will look at every stage of breast cancer — from how it can be prevented, through to how advanced breast cancer can be treated.
With thanks to Andrew Barnes for his generous donation (opens in a new tab) in support of cancer research and care at Cambridge Cancer Research Hospital.
We are applying the latest genomic advances to tailor treatment for breast cancer patients.
We want to offer more personalised treatment for people with breast cancer. This means helping patients receive the treatment most likely to work for them, while reducing the chance of unnecessary side effects.
The Institute aims to:
- Use treatment before surgery, where appropriate, to help shrink tumours and understand how well different treatments are working.
- Improve how breast cancer is monitored by using less invasive tests. This includes advanced scans and blood tests, sometimes called ‘liquid biopsies’, which can look for tiny pieces of cancer DNA in the blood.
- Reduce over-diagnosis and over-treatment for people with breast abnormalities. This could help avoid unnecessary treatment and improve quality of life for patients.
- Develop better treatments for breast cancer that has spread to other parts of the body, by working with researchers and industry partners in the UK and internationally. This will include testing new treatments through early-stage clinical trials.
Professor Jean Abraham, Director of the Charlotte Lockhart Precision Breast Cancer Institute said: " Moving into the new Cambridge Cancer Research Hospital when it opens will further enable us to apply the latest technologies and innovations to our research expertise and transform the way we manage breast cancer patients."
PARTNER: Treating aggressive inherited breast cancer
Professor Jean Abraham talking about the PARTNER trial
Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k77oKYNT4NU
Professor Jean Abraham explains a new treatment approach developed by researchers in Cambridge. The treatment has helped improve survival for patients with aggressive inherited breast cancers.
In the PARTNER trial, patients with early-stage breast cancer who had inherited changes in the BRCA1 or BRCA2 genes received chemotherapy followed by a targeted cancer drug before surgery. All patients in the trial survived for at least three years after surgery — an important milestone in their care.
Precision breast cancer medicine in action
Cambridge is home to the world's first Personalised Breast Cancer Programme (PBCP).
The programme is helping researchers better understand breast cancer and how it can be treated. Researchers around the world can study anonymised patient information and samples, collected from the programme’s participants, including blood, tissue and imaging data, to support their work.
You can listen to a Cancer Research UK Cambridge Centre podcast episode (opens in a new tab) with Rebecca Lucey and Lynsey Drewett, clinical researchers at the University of Cambridge. They talk about how patients receive chemotherapy and targeted treatments for early breast cancer, and how patients are invited to join the Personalised Breast Cancer Programme.
Another Cancer Research UK Cambridge Centre podcast episode (opens in a new tab) explains how researchers are building a “tissue time machine” as part of the Wellcome LEAP Delta Tissue programme. Researchers are studying tumour samples from patients with triple negative breast cancer before and after treatment. Their aim is to develop a model that could help predict how patients may respond to treatment.
For more information, please visit the Precision Breast Cancer Institute page (opens in a new tab) on the Cancer Research UK Cambridge Centre website.