EurekAlert! In the Spotlight - Breast Cancer Awareness

This month, we're turning our attention to Breast Cancer Awareness Month, a time dedicated to increasing awareness, supporting early detection, and highlighting the ongoing research shaping the future of breast cancer treatment and prevention.

Association for Molecular Pathology publishes best practice recommendations for clinical HRD testing

Association for Molecular Pathology
Peer-Reviewed Publication

The Association for Molecular Pathology today announced the publication of best practice recommendations for clinical laboratories developing and performing homologous recombination deficiency (HRD) testing. The manuscript was published online ahead of print, and the full text is freely available in The Journal of Molecular Diagnostics.

Journal: Journal of Molecular Diagnostics

24-Jun-2025

Breast cancer incidence trends in older US women by race, ethnicity, geography, and stage

JAMA Network
Peer-Reviewed Publication

In this population-based cross-sectional analysis of breast cancer incidence trends among older U.S. women, racial and ethnic as well as stage-specific patterns differed across age groups, highlighting the importance of disaggregating breast cancer incidence rates into age groups better aligned with screening guidelines. Future research is needed to directly examine the contribution of screening patterns to these trends and their impact on breast cancer mortality.

Journal: JAMA Network Open

24-Jun-2025

AI tool set to transform characterisation and treatment of cancers

Garvan Institute of Medical Research
Peer-Reviewed Publication

A multinational team of researchers, co-led by the Garvan Institute of Medical Research, has developed and tested a new AI tool to better characterise the diversity of individual cells within tumours, opening doors for more targeted therapies for patients.

Journal: Cancer Discovery

24-Jun-2025

Official BRACELET-1 trial results indicate that adding the oncolytic virus immunotherapy pelareorep to paclitaxel chemotherapy warrants further investigation in HR+ HER2- metastatic breast cancer

PrECOG, LLC
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Adding the oncolytic virus immunotherapy pelareorep to paclitaxel chemotherapy warrants further investigation in patients with HR+ HER2- metastatic breast cancer whose disease has progressed after standard first-line treatment, according to PrECOG, LLC, the cancer research group that investigated the combination in the BRACELET-1 (PrECOG 0113) randomized phase 2 trial.

Journal: Clinical Cancer Research
Funder: Oncolytics Biotech, Pfizer, Merck KGaA

23-Jun-2025

Strengthening the guard at the checkpoint to prevent cancer metastasis

Innovation Center of NanoMedicine
Peer-Reviewed Publication

- Development of "dynamic nanomedicines" for efficient delivery of nucleic acid medicines to sentinel lymph nodes.

- Delivering nucleic acid medicines to sentinel lymph nodes, which serve as a checkpoint for cancer metastasis, activates the immune system, helping to suppress cancer metastasis and recurrence.

- Enhancing cancer immunotherapy to make it effective against immunotherapy-resistant tumors.

- Precise size adjustment of nanomedicines (approximately 10 nm) enables delivery to sentinel lymph nodes.

- Precision nanomedicine design via advanced computational modelling.

- Aim to start clinical trials within five years.

- This announcement is part of a research project conducted by Professor Kanjiro Miyata of the Graduate School of Engineering, The University of Tokyo (Visiting Research Scientist at iCONM), in collaboration with iCONM researchers.

Journal: Journal of the American Chemical Society
Funder: Japan Agency for Medical Research and Development, Japan Society for the Promotion of Science, Japan Science and Technology Agency

Welcome to In the Spotlight, where each month we shine a light on something exciting, timely, or simply fascinating from the world of science.

Latest News Releases

Association for Molecular Pathology publishes best practice recommendations for clinical HRD testing

Breast cancer incidence trends in older US women by race, ethnicity, geography, and stage

AI tool set to transform characterisation and treatment of cancers

Official BRACELET-1 trial results indicate that adding the oncolytic virus immunotherapy pelareorep to paclitaxel chemotherapy warrants further investigation in HR+ HER2- metastatic breast cancer

Strengthening the guard at the checkpoint to prevent cancer metastasis

Alzheimer disease in breast cancer survivors

Breast cancer patients’ microbiome may hold key to avoiding damaging heart side-effects of cancer therapies