We are delighted that one of our PhD Students, Luke Piggott from Cardiff University, has had his research published in the Breast Cancer Research journal. Luke has found a way to selectively destroy breast cancer stem cells, which could help prevent the disease from spreading.
His supervisor, Dr Richard Clarkson from Cardiff University School of Biosciences, has said “Only a small portion of cells within a tumour are responsible for metastatic spread and disease relapse. There is a promising new class of anti-cancer drugs called TRAIL-receptor antagonists that can selectively kill cancer cells whilst sparing healthy normal cells. We have used this agent to successfully sensitise cancer stem cells; this was particularly surprising because the majority of breast cancers are resistant to this drug.”
Luke has found that by using this method, he has achieved a 98 per cent reduction in secondary tumours in the laboratory.
To watch a YouTube video of Luke discussing his research please see: youtube.com/watch?v=jJI4ZXk...
We currently have nine PhD studentships in Wales, with a further ten due to start in September. If you would like more information about our PhD studentship please visit our website: tenovus.org.uk/research/phd...
