The Independent Cancer Patients Voice a warm welcome to Leeds!

11.15 Collection & use of tissue and its value to cell biology

Val Speirs, Debbie Holliday, Laura Smith, Aidan Hindley

13.00 Lunchwith Dave Ardon, Chair NCRI Consumer Liaison Group

14.00 Bone related issues in breast cancer treatmentRob Coleman

15.00 Consultation on measures of emotional distressLucy Ziegler

16.00 Tea & ICPV discussion16.30 Different methods of breast reconstruction

Raj Achuthan

17.30 Lab tourSteven Pollock & Michele Cummings

Programme

Collection and use of tissue and its value to cell biology

Valerie SpeirsDeborah Holliday

Laura Smith

Section of Pathology and Tumour Biology

Breast cancer:One disease or many?

If it looks different, it is different

310

Grade I

Grade II

Frequency of chromosomal aberrations in breast cancer

Roylance et al., Cancer Res 1999

Breast cancer is heterogeneous: One size does not fit all!

How can we model breast cancer in the lab?

• Cell lines

• Animal models

• Human clinical material

Cell lines

• Pros– ease of use– homogeneous– easily replaced

• Cons– origin– genetic drift– reproducibility

Burdall et al., Breast Cancer Res, 2003

Case study: MCF-7

Separate MCF-7 strains from different

laboratories

• Morphology– similar in all cases

• Growth rate– variable

• Karyotype (CGH/SKY)– variable

• ER/PR content– variable

Animal models

• Breast cancer is a complex disease which is not easily modelled in animals

• Concerns over the validity of animal models– breast tumours taken from

animal experiments do not accurately represent human breast cancers in their appearance

• Ethical pressure on scientists– 3Rs

Primary cultures derived from human material

• Pros– established directly

from tumours– more representative

models• Biologically• Clinically

• Cons– difficult to establish– slow doubling times– contamination by

fibroblasts/normal epithelial cells

– Ethical issues (HTA)• Tissue access

Breast Cancer Campaign

• Mission To beat breast cancer by funding

innovative world-class research to understand how breast cancer develops, leading to improved diagnosis, treatment, prevention and cure

Background to Breast Cancer Campaign

• Breast Cancer Campaign is the only charity that specialises in funding independent breast cancer research throughout the UK

• Supports high quality research (basic and clinical) in universities, medical schools/teaching hospitals and research institutes in the UK and ROI

• Since 1988 BCC have supported:– 183 grants – £18.5 million

• Currently funds >100 research projects throughout the UK/ROI worth > £13.5M

• In Yorkshire, Campaign has supported – 11 grants– £1.25 million

• Breast Cancer Campaign– http://www.truveo.com/breast-cancer-campaig

n%E2%80%99s-research/id/3900128381

Breast Cancer Campaign Gap Analysis

• One-day meeting convened in London on 2 November 2006

• 56 of the UK’s most influential breast cancer experts identified the key research gaps and priorities for the greatest potential impact on patients

Format

• Before, during and after the meeting, groups in seven key research areas participated in cycles of presentation, literature review and discussion

Groups

1. Genetics2. Initiation 3. Progression 4. Therapies and targets5. Disease markers6. Prevention7. Psychosocial aspects

Questions posed

• What do we know?• What are the gaps?• Problems• Translational implications• Recommendations

• Summary papers were prepared by each group and collated into a position paper highlighting the research gaps, with recommendations for action

Highly accessed

To provide, in partnership with BCC, highly

specialised breast cancer related biomaterials to

support cutting-edge translational research for

the benefit of the patient

Mission Statement

Why is the tissue bank so important?

• Access to standardised, well annotated human breast tissue will help identify the causes of breast cancer, develop new treatments, identify genes associated with breast cancer and, most importantly, accelerate research from the laboratory to the clinic

Questions?