Pioneering research into untreatable breast cancer
ONE in eight women will fall victim to breast cancer during their lifetime. What is perhaps less known is the fact that a woman with breast cancer has a one in 10 chance of not responding to the three types of treatment currently available.
With this in mind, AUSiMED (Australia/Israel Medical Research) is fundraising for a critical research project seeking to discover why these women cease responding to treatment, in the hope that this will lead to a new treatment that could save lives.
CEO of AUSiMED Roz Kaldor-Aroni said treatment resistance among Ashkenazi Jews is particularly high, and therefore the need for a solution is pressing.
“Ashkenazi Jews have a 1 in 40 chance of having inherited mutated genes known as BRCA1 or BRCA2, which is a 10 times higher incidence than the rest of the community,” she explained.
“These mutated genes are said to create a 90 per cent chance of causing breast cancer and this type of cancer tends to be untreatable, particularly in younger women.”
AUSiMED have engaged world leading scientists from both Melbourne and the Sheba Medical Centre in Israel to work together on this project.
Electing to use a crowdfunding platform, AUSiMED is committed to raising at least $20,000 for the project, which is due to be carried out over three years.
In a variation to traditional crowdfunding, donors will receive a tax deductible receipt instead of a gift if the campaign reaches its target within a specified time. They will also have the option of receiving a refund if the target isn’t reached. At the time The AJN went to press, the campaign had generated approximately $7000.
The campaign ends on June 28.
To find out more and to donate, go to www.ausimed.org/support-breast-cancer-research.html.
PHOEBE ROTH
The BRCA gene.
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