Funding outcome

Breast cancer is a deadly disease; 1 in 9 women is expected to develop breast cancer during their lifetime. Breast cancer is the most prevalent cancer among Canadian women and the second killer of women after lung cancer. Continuous improvements in prevention efforts as well as development of advanced therapies have gradually increased successful outcomes in management of breast cancers. However, this survival rate remained stubbornly stable and are not decreasing for several years. Once the invasive phase of the disease sets in, the chances of therapeutic response plummets; while the 5-year survival rate for early cancers is close to 100%, metastatic (spreading) breast cancers have a 5-year survival rate of only 22%. There is no specific intervention that prevents the spreading of the disease, since all approved drugs are used for the treatment of tumor growth. A more effective clinical therapy that can kill breast cancer cells will enhance the chances of survival of patients by preventing tumor spreading. This project will be carried out to develop a new therapy for breast cancers based on a powerful therapeutic agent, called TRAIL. We intend to deliver the gene of this agent so that it can be produced in situ, readily accessing the tumor tissue for a more effective kill. We will identify the most effective way to deliver this agent and make it available in the body for most effective tumor kill. New information will be generated to better understand how to produce powerful agents in situ for a more effective control of breast cancer growth. Such a therapy could be deployed at the time of diagnosis for early stage disease, as well as at late stages to prevent the ongoing tumor spreading. Our intervention will complement the current drugs and add a unique therapy to already existing drug arsenal.