Breakthrough Breast Cancer and Cancer Research UK, have launched the first UK-based clinical trial for women with an aggressive form of breast cancer which has spread to another part of the body.
The triple-negative trial aims to improve breast cancer treatment for women with hormone and HER2 negative tumours, sometimes referred to as "triple negative" because they lack hormone (oestrogen and progesterone) and HER2 receptors.
They are more common among younger women and those of African ethnicity, and account for 15% to 20% of all breast cancers in the UK.
Hormone and HER2 negative tumours do not respond to targeted treatments like herceptin or hormone therapies such as tamoxifen and because of this, can be hard to treat.
The trial aims to develop a more tailored and effective chemotherapy treatment for women with hormone and HER2 negative breast cancer, which has spread elsewhere in the body.
It will compare women’s responses to the platinum-based drug, carboplatin, not normally used to treat breast cancer, with responses to docetaxel, the current standard treatment for the disease.
Eligible patients will be randomly allocated to receive one of the two treatments and patients will be followed to determine whether carboplatin is a more effective treatment for hormone and HER2 negative breast cancer.
It is hoped that up to 450 women from hospitals in the UK will take part over a five-year period.
Kate Law, Cancer Research UK’s director of clinical trials, said: "Women who have the kind of breast cancer that does not respond to tamoxifen or other hormone treatment may feel they are a neglected group.
"Clinical trials like this are vital in helping us to develop more effective treatments and improve survival rates for this type of breast cancer."
Breast cancer is the most common cancer in the UK with over 44,000 women diagnosed each year, the charities said.
For more information on the trial, visit [www.breakthrough.org.uk]
Meanwhile, black British women in Hackney, east London, are diagnosed with breast cancer 21 years younger than white British women, according to a study published online in the British Journal of Cancer.
They found the black patients were diagnosed with breast cancer at an average age of 46 while the white patients were diagnosed at an average age of 67.