Breakthrough in breast cancer research could lead to improved and personalised treatments

Researchers at the Institute of Cancer Research (ICR) in London have discovered the key features of B cells which make them successful at targeting tumours - including when cancer has spread to a different part of the body.

B cells are a type of white blood cell that help to protect against infection by creating antibodies. They are key to fighting viruses and cancer.

For the study, the team took biopsies from patients with breast cancer and used a technique called B cell receptor sequencing to identify genetic variations in the B cells.

They focused on the B cells of people with advanced breast cancer who died after their cancer had spread to other parts of the body, as well as patients with early breast cancer being treated with chemotherapy.

The team found that when a receptor on the B cell identifies a cancer cell and binds to it, the B cell undergoes changes to be even more effective at targeting those cancer cells.

Some unique B cells which had changed their genetic sequence after targeting cancer cells were present at multiple sites where the cancer had spread to. This means that, after recognising cancer in one area of the body, B cells migrate to hunt down cancer at different sites around the body.

Researchers used this information to develop a tool to predict which B cells were most likely to successfully detect and target cancer cells.

The tool could be used to find a patient's most successful anti-cancer B cells and artificially develop the antibodies that these B cells create.

It is hoped this could then be given as a personalised immunotherapy treatment which could "supercharge" a patient's immune system.

Dr Stephen-John Sammut, first author on the study and leader of the Cancer Dynamics Group at the ICR, said: "The computational tool we have developed will allow us to zoom in and identify the B cells that have recognised cancer cells, as well as the antibodies they are producing. This will allow us to develop anti-cancer antibody treatments similar to the ones the B cells produce, which can then be given as a personalised treatment to boost the immune system’s response against breast cancer that has spread.”

The study was conducted alongside academics from the University of Oxford and University of Cambridge.