Dr Anthony Kong, who helps treat breast cancer patients within the Oxford Radcliffe NHS Trust, is the first clinician scientist to be funded via the charity’s clinical researcher programme.
HER2-positive breast cancer accounts for around 1 in 5 of the 46,000 breast cancers diagnosed in the UK each year.
Herceptin is a key treatment for this type of the disease but not all patients benefit from this drug.
Although doctors can confirm that a cancer is HER2-positive using immunohistochemistry or a technique called FISH, there is currently no reliable test to predict whether Herceptin will be effective for every patient.
neil.durham@haymarket.com
Breakthrough Breast Cancer
Comment below and tell us what you think