Ambitious project aims to stop breast cancer recurring

The grant will fund the "AllClear" program, a research project focused on stopping recurrence of breast cancer, led by Garvan Institute Associate Professor Christine Chaffer. 

It will be vitally important for patients such as Amy Busdon, a mother of three girls, who was diagnosed in early 2024 just before her 40th birthday. 

With no family history, she was shocked when, the same week she was diagnosed, her mum called to tell her she too had breast cancer and would be undergoing treatment. 

"(The diagnosis) is just shattering in an instant," Ms Busdon said.

"Everything just flashes before you. You think of the girls and your husband and start planning their life without you in it." 

In Australia, more than 21,000 people are diagnosed with breast cancer and about 3300 die from the disease each year.

For some survivors, the breast cancer cells hide quietly in the body, commonly in the bone, and can reappear years or decades after the initial treatment.

About 15 per cent of people will experience a cancer recurrence, which can often be life threatening.

"We want to understand these cells and improve how we can find them because they are the ones we need to eradicate to stop recurrence and prevent patients from metastasis which can be really hard to treat," Prof Chaffer told AAP. 

"The research will also help us to understand what makes those cells different and work on treatments to eradicate dormant cells."

The AllClear team will study cancer cells in the bone to understand how they hide, how they are different to cells in the primary tumour and why current treatments may fail.

The research will help develop new therapies and fast-track their testing through clinical trials. 

Patients who have faced and treated a breast cancer diagnosis cannot currently be told whether their cancer is likely to recur, which Prof Chaffer said could cause enormous stress. 

"The fear of recurrence is huge and patients are living with that after cancer diagnosis - you can't underestimate the detrimental side effects of that fear," she said.

For Ms Busdon, it's something she thinks about every day.

"I've got three beautiful girls and I want to make sure I'm here for them when they grow up," she said.

"Breast cancer research is so important and it gives me a lot of hope." 

The Garvan Institute research program aims to help patients know if they are "all clear" of cancer cells which could recur. 

"Being able to predict that will be a world a first," Prof Chaffer said. 

Australia's leading not-for-profit organisation which funds breast cancer research, NBCF has the ambitious goal of zero deaths from the disease. 

The death rate from breast cancer in Australia had reduced by 40 per cent in the past three decades which showed the needle could be moved, NBCF chief executive Cleola Anderiesz said.

"We didn't improve this rate simply by good luck. It's been because of significant investment in research," Dr Anderiesz said.

"The NBCF is completely community funded and our ability to invest in this extraordinary research is due to the generosity of our supporters."