Your support helps us fund new types of research into the causes of breast cancer. We work with scientists who undertake world-class research into how cancer-causing and hormone-disrupting chemicals increase the risk of breast cancer. Information on our current research is below.
Giorgia’s project aims to enhance the understanding of the relationship between bisphenol exposure, obesity, and breast cancer. The project will be investigating the processes within cells that could drive breast cancer onset and progression within adipose (fat) tissue, and how it responds to exposure to bisphenols. The research hopes to find better ways to prevent breast cancer by shedding light on how these chemicals affect our health.
Lead researcher: Dr Giorgia Cioccoloni
Hannah’s project will be investigating the effect of phthalates and parabens on normal breast tissue using novel laboratory-based models. By treating normal tissue, taken from patients that have had surgery, it is hoped that the research will establish how these chemicals affect cells and how they may help to drive the development of breast cancer. This research hopes to add to the growing body of evidence in the field which will allow us to better address the use of EDCs in everyday products.
Lead researcher: Dr Hannah Harrison
This project aims to investigate whether PFAS (“forever chemicals”) play a role in breast cancer development and determine whether microplastics that can leach PFAS are found in breast tissue. Normal breast cells will be exposed to PFAS at levels found in the blood and then be assessed for characteristics often found in cancerous cells. The effect of long and short-term exposure will be analysed to see what changes occur immediately and which develop over time. Breast tissue from patients will also be analysed for microplastics.
Lead researcher: Dr Mark Wade
This project aims to assess the potential risks arising from endocrine-disrupting chemicals (EDCs) found in everyday products that can potentially lead to or promote breast cancer. Frozen breast cancer samples will be screened for oestrogen-like chemical pollutants. Cancer and non-cancerous fatty tissue from the same breast will be analysed. The results will be used to assess if there is a connection between the amount and type of oestrogen-like chemical pollutants detected and breast cancer growth and spread.
Lead researcher: Dr Michael Antoniou
This project will use different approaches to identify conclusively whether there is a link between exposure to bisphenol (BPA) and breast cancer development in women. These include a literature review on how BPA affects breast tissue, a computer analysis of cancer-related gene databanks to identify genes regulated by BPA, laboratory experiments to see if BPA-sensitive genes contribute to breast cancer development and measurements of BPA in plasma samples from breast cancer patients.
Lead researcher: Professor Valerie Speirs
The project aims to identify any potential risks associated with bisphenols (used as BPA substitutes) that potentially lead to, or promote, growth of breast cancer. A biomonitoring study will be carried out on a UK human population to detect and quantify levels of different bisphenols most frequently detected in foodstuffs. The work will also evaluate the potential breast cancer initiating and growth promoting activities of a mixture of bisphenols, using human breast epithelial cells.
Lead researcher: Dr Michael Antoniou
As desperate as we are to understand the causes of breast cancer, we firmly believe that this can be done without harm to animals. Please donate today to help our scientists undertake world-class research. Thank you.