Graduate School of Medicine, Department of Health Science
I conduct biological research on breast cancer that has developed resistance to radiation therapy.
Breast cancer is the most common cancer among women. Triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC), which is particularly prevalent in younger women, is associated with high rates of recurrence and metastasis, leading to poor survival rates. While advances in radiation physics have improved local control rates in recent years, radiation-resistant cancers that repeatedly recur still exist. Currently, no effective treatment has been established for recurrent tumors in TNBC that have acquired this resistance to radiation therapy.
Therefore, this research aims to establish a radiation-resistant strain (Res) by repeatedly irradiating the wild-type (WT) TNBC strain. By comparing WT and Res, we seek to elucidate the characteristics of Res. Our goal is to propose a treatment strategy that not only controls locally recurrent tumors but also targets the control of distant metastases, which is essential for extending cancer patient survival.
Radiation therapy offers the advantage of being less invasive than surgery and superior in preserving aesthetic appearance. Leveraging this advantage, we believe the development of new treatment strategies for young breast cancer patients who represent the future holds extremely high social significance