Division of Breast Cancer Research 

To fulfil the aim to translate its findings rapidly to the clinic, the division has strong links with other researchers at The Institute of Cancer Research, London, clinicians at The Royal Marsden and academic and commercial collaborators.

A key priority for the division is to identify and characterise breast cancer susceptibility genes. Its researchers were responsible for one of the biggest ever discoveries in cancer genetics – the identification of the breast cancer gene BRCA2.

Its discovery has enabled families with a history of the disease to be assessed for future risk, and has helped lay the groundwork for the development of novel therapies that target BRCA-associated cancers.

One of the division’s core research programmes aims to understand how genes and the tumour microenvironment help to drive the metastasis of breast cancers to other parts of the body.

Researchers are also interested in understanding how breast cancers become resistant to treatment. They discovered a mechanism by which resistance develops to aromatase inhibitors, used in the hormonal treatment of breast cancer, and are uncovering mechanisms of resistance to PARP inhibitors, developed to treat patients with germline BRCA mutations.

The Breast Cancer Now Research Centre — formerly the Breakthrough Breast Cancer Research Centre — is funded by Breast Cancer Now, and was opened in 1999 by its patron, HRH The Prince of Wales.

The Breast Cancer Now Nina Barough Pathology Core Facility within the division provides diagnostic and research-based histopathology to both the Breast Cancer Now Research Centre and research teams within the ICR.

The Division’s researchers work closely with the Breast Cancer Now Generations Study (formerly the Breakthrough Generations Study), which is based in the ICR’s Division of Genetics and Epidemiology. The Generations Study is the world’s largest and most comprehensive study investigating the environmental, behavioural, hormonal and genetic causes of breast cancer.

Running over the next 40–50 years, scientists are analysing patient blood samples, and assessing detailed patient questionnaires, to gather unique information on more than 100,000 women and identify factors influencing their breast cancer risk.