A significant number of all breast cancer patients will acquire resistance and progress into metastatic disease. At this point no optimal treatment is available. Resistance is acquired through diverse mechanisms.
The overall aim of the project is to improve future breast cancer treatment by categorizing patients having developed resistance against standard therapy into new treatment groups based on biological traits gained in the tumor during earlier lines of treatment.
Secondary objectives:
- Identify molecular signatures predicting response to DNA-targeted therapy using longitudinal tumor samples from a clinical trial
- Test hypotheses on mechanisms causing resistance by intervening corresponding pathways/microenvironmental interactions in patient-derived preclinical models, and unravel molecular portraits predicting response or activation of potential survival pathways
- Identify novel targets to combat resistance
Olav Engebråten, Gunhild Mælandsmo and Lina Prasmickaite (not present at the photo) are responsible for the project that received funding from The Norwegian Cancer Society in November 2017.
