“Triple negative breast cancer is an aggressive disease with a greater likelihood of spreading around the body and recurring within five years than other breast cancers.
“In preclinical studies, we found that an experimental drug, seviteronel, combined with chemotherapy, could be twice as effective in reducing the size of tumours than chemotherapy alone,” says Associate Professor Chaffer."
"Dr Beatriz Perez San Juan, the post-doctoral researcher in Associate Professor Chaffer’s lab who led the preclinical study, discovered that activation of androgen receptors in breast cancer cells triggers the cell state switching. Androgens are commonly thought of as male sex hormones but are also found at lower levels in women.
In preclinical models of triple negative breast cancer, the researchers administered chemotherapy together with seviteronel, an experimental treatment that blocks androgen production. The combination approach caused a 70% to 100% greater reduction in tumour size, compared to chemotherapy alone. This strategy prevented the emergence of chemotherapy-resistant cells and reduced the spread of the cancer around the body."
