Developing a potential treatment for triple negative breast cancer

A cancer charity is helping to fund world-leading research to develop a potential new treatment for triple negative breast cancer.

Team Verrico donated £9,000 to the European Cancer Stem Cell Research Institute, which will help Professor Matt Smalley’s research group develop a potential treatment for aggressive breast cancer.

The funding will help to fund a project that aims to develop an inhibitor of a molecular switch which the group has found becomes permanently ‘switched on’ in triple negative breast cancer. The activity of this switch keeps cancer cells alive, so the group thinks that by finding a way to switch it off, they can kill the cells of this aggressive cancer type.

Team Verrico charity aims to fund cutting edge research aiming to find or improve treatments for cancer, especially triple negative breast cancer, as well as supporting research into the challenges faced by long term survivors of the disease.

The cancer charity visited the European Cancer Stem Cell Research Institute at Cancer University to hear about the its work and to donate £9,338 to help the Institute continue is research into cancer stem cells and cancer.

They were given a tour of the Institute’s lab and were shown how their donations are being used to fund the research at the European Cancer Stem Cell Research Institute.

Paul Verrico, Team Verrico’s Head of Research and Founder, said: “The work of the smaller research programmes is vital in the successful fight against the invidious foe of cancer.

“The trustees were impressed with the insightful application made by Professor Smalley and team and very much look forward to reading their results later in the year.”

The funds donated by Team Verrico are being used to help kickstart a project run by Professor Matt Smalley, which aims to develop a small molecule inhibitor of the molecular switch, with the potential to become a treatment for triple negative breast cancer.

Professor Matt Smalley, Director of the European Cancer Stem Cell Research Institute, said: “We would like to say a huge thank you to Team Verrico for their outstanding support.

“Survival rates in cancer are improving, but there is still more work to do.

“We rely on support like this to help us continue our research. Team Verrico's support is helping us to transform the way we treat cancer by providing the funding we need for proof-of-principle studies. We have a long road ahead of us with this project, but without this help from Team Verrico we would not even be able to start on the first step.

“100% of the donations we receive go directly to fund cancer research in the European Cancer Stem Cell Research Institute, and their donation will play a vital role in allowing us to continue our research into new treatments for cancer.”