Wellcome Trust funding for potential breast cancer target
4 October 2021
Breast cancer is the most common cancer and is the biggest cause of cancer death in the UK. The Wellcome Intuitional Translational Partnership Award has been granted to Cardiff University to investigate a potential therapeutic target for triple negative breast cancer.
Research at the Medicines Discovery Institute has been awarded £17,592 by the Wellcome Trust to fund research to discover targets for the protein LIMK1 and its role in this aggressive form of breast cancer.
Dr Ross Collins, Cardiff University, said: “Triple Negative Breast Cancer is highly aggressive and typically does not respond to current cancer treatments. Patients with this breast cancer often have a poorer prognosis. We urgently need to find new therapies that improve the outcomes for patients with this type of cancer.
“The protein LIMK1 is overexpressed in tumours in triple negative breast cancer and is associated with the spread of cancer around the body.
“There is growing evidence that LIMK1 is a strong candidate for a future cancer therapeutic target. We aim to translate the existing research to find new drugs that target the LIMK1 protein.
“This funding from the Wellcome Trust will allow us to test this new breast cancer target and screen new drugs for their efficiency. We aim to increase our knowledge of triple negative breast cancer and work towards new future therapies for this aggressive cancer.”