Help Campaign fund research to stop breast cancer from spreading
Your gift will help fund research into preventing breast cancer cells from spreading to other parts of the body. This process is called metastasis.
One such project is being carried out by Dr Ana Schor at the University of Dundee. She is investigating a protein called MSF, which is produced in high quantities by most breast tumours. MSF also helps cancer cells develop their own blood supply. This can provide a route for them to spread round the body.
Dundee-based Dr Schor was also funded by Campaign to research MSF. Her research showed showed that patients whose breast cancer cells produced high amounts of MSF had a poorer outcome than those with low levels of MSF.
Dr Schor has since discovered there are two types of MSF that can be detected in the blood stream. One form is active and found in 90 per cent of breast cancer patients. The other is inactive and found in 87 per cent of people who do not have breast cancer.
Dr Schor and her researcher, Dr Sarah Jones, are looking at both forms to see how they differ. They aim to develop a rapid blood test to accurately measure the amount of active MSF in breast cancer patients.
