Changing the statistics with world-class breast cancer research
Breast cancer is the most commonly diagnosed cancer amongst women in Australia. In the last 10 years, breast cancer diagnoses in Australia have increased by 24%. Each day 58 people in Australia are diagnosed with breast cancer and 9 people lose their lives to this disease. Funding world-class breast cancer research is more important than ever if we want to change the statistics.
The National Breast Cancer Foundation (NBCF) is committed to funding research to reach our vision of Zero Deaths from breast cancer. With your support, hope is on the horizon.
You'll be helping save lives
Who you're helping fund
By taking part in GO PINK and raising funds for NBCF, you're supporting world-class breast cancer research focussed on better understanding how to prevent and detect breast cancer early, how to stop the progression and recurrence of breast cancer and how to effectively treat hard-to-treat and metastatic breast cancers. Every dollar you raise helps us fund more research - that ultimately saves lives.
Here are just a few of the inspiring research projects underway.
Associate Professor Peter Simpson
University of Queensland Centre for Clinical Research
Understanding the causes of breast cancer in young women
Breast cancer is the most commonly diagnosed cancer in young women under 40 years with around 1000 new cases diagnosed every year in Australia.
With the support of NBCF, A/Prof Peter Simpson from the University of Queensland will study tumour samples from patients’ who were diagnosed with breast cancer under 40 years of age. Some of these patients have a family history of breast cancer, whilst for many there was no known family history of the disease. Outcomes from this study will help reveal the underlying molecular cause of early onset breast cancer.
ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR PILAR BLANCAFORT
University of Western Australia
Targeting a new 'hidden' aggressive subtype of estrogen receptor positive breast cancer
70% of all breast cancers are fuelled by estrogen, meaning that anti-estrogen therapies are a very effective treatment option to control the disease. Unfortunately, around 20% of these breast cancers are more aggressive and resistant to this type of hormonal therapy, which leads to an increased risk of relapse and poorer outcomes for these patients.
NBCF-funded researcher A/Prof Pilar Blancafort, from the University of Western Australia, has recently discovered a new gene called AAMDC which could allow both detection and treatment of these breast cancer cases.
This project will develop clinical tests for the AAMDC gene, which allows clinicians to identify which patients will do poorly under anti-estrogen treatment and may lead to development of novel drugs to treat this aggressive subtype of breast cancer.
About National Breast Cancer Foundation
NBCF is Australia's leading not-for-profit organisation funding world-class breast cancer research with money raised entirely by the Australian public.
Our vision is simple - Zero Deaths from breast cancer. How? By funding world-class research focussed on how to prevent, detect, treat and stop the progression and recurrence of breast cancer.
With your support and generosity, we can achieve our vision of Zero Deaths from breast cancer.
