An Ely woman and another from Little Downham feature in a ‘bracode campaign’ by Addenbrooke’s to support research to make personalised breast cancer diagnosis and treatment a reality.
Claire Taylor of Ely and Jodie McPherson from Little Downham are involved in the ‘bracode campaign’ so called because changes in DNA can be regarded a little like barcodes.
The campaign will support the five-year clinical research programme to which each of the 450 women and men treated annually at the hospital’s Cambridge Breast Unit will be invited to take part
Cancer specialists at Addenbrooke’s in Cambridge are among researchers who recently revealed that there are ten different breast cancer tumour types, rather than it being a single, uniform disease. The new five-year study will establish whether it is possible to translate that knowledge into the hospital setting and to improve treatment strategies for each individual patient.
Dr Jean Abraham, consultant in medical oncology, said: “It may be possible, if we understand the genetic changes that have taken place in each breast cancer patient, that we can make changes to their care.
“This will ensure that the treatment they receive is the most effective for them. But we need to investigate this in clinical practice. “We need to know, for example, that the genes in patients’ tumours can be sequenced quickly enough and at a cost acceptable to the NHS. “Today more patients survive breast cancer than ever before but, each year, around 50,000 women in the UK will be told they have breast cancer.”
Dr Abraham said the ‘bracode campaign’ will help to assess whether it is feasible for personalised breast cancer care to be routinely implemented within the NHS, and beyond.
The campaign is being launched with a video fronted by actress Patricia Hodge. The film’s message is that there’s no such thing as a one-size-fits-all bra and the same goes for breast cancer treatment.
The video was created by Cambridge-based firm, Honest. The video is online at: https://youtu.be/rX7u5rW-0wQ
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