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Treating chemotherapy-resistant breast cancer

Dr Josie Ursini-Siege
Dr Josie Ursini-Siegel, CCS-funded researcher

When breast cancer spreads to other parts of the body or develops therapy resistance and rarely responds to chemotherapy, the prognosis can be poor. Canadian Cancer Society (CCS)-funded researcher Dr Josie Ursini-Siegel and her team are identifying new treatment combinations for these aggressive, chemotherapy-resistant breast cancers, with the goal of providing new treatment options and improving outcomes.

Chemotherapy resistance can be caused by many different genetic alterations, making treatment with targeted therapies difficult. Dr Ursini-Siegel is addressing this challenge by focusing on drugs that inhibit a cancer cell’s ability to produce the building blocks that support their growth and survival – and then developing strategies to sensitize tumour cells to them. Through this research, she and her team hope to identify a combination of drugs that can successfully treat chemotherapy-resistant breast cancer – and save lives.

“CCS’s continuing support has been instrumental to my research,” says Dr Ursini-Siegel. “Thank you for your ongoing support.”