From population to patient: Leveraging systems medicine to personalise breast cancer treatment
The ICS BREAST-PREDICT Cancer Research Centre aims to develop a systems-level clinical, pathophysiological and pharmacoepidemiological data-driven approach that will facilitate evidence-based predictive breast cancer medicine. Founded upon the rationalisation of national data and bioresources, together with advanced mining of publically available datasets, the BREASTPREDICT Centre will utilise systems medicine-based approaches to (a) model the effects of pharmacoepidemiological, comorbidity and lifestyle factors on breast cancer outcome; (b) examine the adaptive responses of breast tumours to targeted therapy; (c) identify rational combinatorial therapeutic regimes; (d) provide mechanistic anchoring of key breast cancer-driving pathways; and, (e) facilitate validation of signature-based diagnostics that can predict outcome and response to therapeutic intervention. To achieve this, a comprehensive analysis of breast tumours and associated bioresources from retrospective cohorts, ongoing prospective trials and novel prospective trials will be performed utilising next generation sequencing approaches and antibody-based proteomics, while functional genomic approaches will be employed to identify novel therapeutic targets and rational combinations of existing drugs. Findings will be mechanistically evaluated in vitro and in vivo using animal models and non-invasive imaging techniques. In summary, the BREAST-PREDICT Centre will facilitate the rationalisation of drug utilisation prior to and during breast cancer therapy and inform the next generation of hypothesis-driven research and clinical trials.
This collaboration and research centre is funded by the Irish Cancer Society.