A new study in Breast Cancer Research points to a promising strategy to overcome the cancer’s resistance. Researchers at MUSC Hollings Cancer Center have developed an antibody that blocks several of the ways TNBC cells survive, grow and evade the immune system. In early testing, the antibody suppressed primary tumor growth and the spread of cancer to the lungs and reenergized cancer-fighting immune cells. It even killed cancer cells that had stopped responding to chemotherapy.

A new target in an immune-resistant cancer

This preclinical study focused on a protein called secreted frizzled-related protein 2 (SFRP2), which acts as a cancer enabler—fueling tumor growth by supporting new blood vessels, blocking cell death and weakening immune cells that should attack the cancer.