Research & funding
Conferences highlight bone treatment W
hen breast cancer spreads (metastasis), in 80 per cent of cases it travels to the bone. When this happens, clinicians can provide treatment to slow down growth but are unable
to cure the disease. Recent breast cancer conferences have highlighted the issues
surrounding the treatment of bone metastasis and researchers around the world are working to find ways to tackle this problem. At the 34th San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium in December, the
results of the AZURE trial, investigating the use of a bone-strengthening drug called zoledronic acid, to prolong survival in women with bone metastasis, were presented.
‘Zoledronic acid could be having an effect in women who have very low levels of the hormone oestrogen’
Previous research funded by Campaign showed that in the laboratory, following chemotherapy 24 hours later with zoledronic acid leads to a
Researcher under the microscope
Phil Quinlan is the IT Lead for the Tissue Bank while also working part-time on a PhD finding new ways to analyse research data.
Q. Where do you live and work? A. I work at the University of Dundee and live just outside the city.
Q. What do you do? A. Data! I am the IT Lead for the Breast Cancer Campaign Tissue Bank.
Q. What is the best thing about your job? A. Seeing progress being made in breast cancer research and scientists gaining a greater understanding of cancer which has the potential to impact on thousands of lives.
‘Regardless of geographical location, the best research will now have access to high quality tissue samples’
Q. What aspects of your job are the most challenging? A. Trying to get the University IT systems from the four tissue bank centres talking the same language was interesting. We now effectively have one big dictionary that allows all the sites to speak in their own language but know what the others are saying. The result is a world-leading search portal which brings all the centres’ data into one resource to allow researchers to find the samples they need.
Q. How will the Tissue Bank help women with breast cancer? A. The Tissue Bank is all about removing barriers to research and improving tissue access. Regardless of geographical location, the best research will now have access to
8 focus June-September 2011
high quality tissue samples. This will increase the pace of research and help translate research into new treatments.
Q. What do you like to do outside work? A. I have recently started walking!
Q. Have you ever done any fundraising? A. I am climbing Kilimanjaro in October for Breast Cancer Campaign which is the reason for the sudden interest in walking. Anyone who knows me knows that I really don’t like walking. I’m still not entirely sure when or why I agreed to do it!
Q. Have you ever been on TV? A. My TV debut was on the local news which covered the announcement that Dundee was one of the tissue bank centres.
If you would like to sponsor Phil’s Kilimanjaro climb visit
www.justgiving.com/bcckili
dramatic reduction in bone metastasis. This research helped to inform the work of the AZURE trial. The trial found there was an improvement in survival for women taking
zoledronic acid who had undergone the menopause more than five years previously, although there were no benefits seen for other groups of women. It appears that zoledronic acid could be having an effect in women who have very low levels of the hormone oestrogen, although the reason for this is not yet understood and requires further investigation. Meanwhile, healthcare professionals and patient advocacy
organisations gathered at the Skeletal Care Academy’s meeting in Madrid in February, where they shared their knowledge and expertise on cancer-related bone disease. Advocacy groups discussed resources they have developed to help other organisations raise awareness of metastatic breast cancer. This will help to ensure patients receive the highest standard of care, giving them the best quality of life possible. Campaign would like to thank Roche and Amgen for sponsoring our attendance at these key meetings.
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