thesis for breast cancer

• Search by keyword
• Search by citation

Page 1 of 107

CD163 + macrophages in the triple-negative breast tumor microenvironment are associated with improved survival in the Women’s Circle of Health Study and the Women’s Circle of Health Follow-Up Study

Tumor-associated macrophages (TAMs) are a prominent immune subpopulation in the tumor microenvironment that could potentially serve as therapeutic targets for breast cancer. Thus, it is important to characteri...

• View Full Text

TRPS1 maintains luminal progenitors in the mammary gland by repressing SRF/MRTF activity

The transcription factor TRPS1 is a context-dependent oncogene in breast cancer. In the mammary gland, TRPS1 activity is restricted to the luminal population and is critical during puberty and pregnancy. Its f...

Breast density knowledge and willingness to delay treatment for pre-operative breast cancer imaging among women with a personal history of breast cancer

Following a breast cancer diagnosis, it is uncertain whether women’s breast density knowledge influences their willingness to undergo pre-operative imaging to detect additional cancer in their breasts. We eval...

siRNA treatment targeting integrin α11 overexpressed via EZH2-driven axis inhibits drug-resistant breast cancer progression

Breast cancer, the most prevalent cancer in women worldwide, faces treatment challenges due to drug resistance, posing a serious threat to patient survival. The present study aimed to identify the key molecule...

Quantitative characterization of breast lesions and normal fibroglandular tissue using compartmentalized diffusion-weighted model: comparison of intravoxel incoherent motion and restriction spectrum imaging

To compare the compartmentalized diffusion-weighted models, intravoxel incoherent motion (IVIM) and restriction spectrum imaging (RSI), in characterizing breast lesions and normal fibroglandular tissue.

AMD1 promotes breast cancer aggressiveness via a spermidine-eIF5A hypusination-TCF4 axis

Basal-like breast cancer (BLBC) is the most aggressive subtype of breast cancer due to its aggressive characteristics and lack of effective therapeutics. However, the mechanism underlying its aggressiveness re...

NSABP FB-10: a phase Ib/II trial evaluating ado-trastuzumab emtansine (T-DM1) with neratinib in women with metastatic HER2-positive breast cancer

We previously reported our phase Ib trial, testing the safety, tolerability, and efficacy of T-DM1 + neratinib in HER2-positive metastatic breast cancer patients. Patients with ERBB2 amplification in ctDNA had...

Screening mammography performance according to breast density: a comparison between radiologists versus standalone intelligence detection

Artificial intelligence (AI) algorithms for the independent assessment of screening mammograms have not been well established in a large screening cohort of Asian women. We compared the performance of screenin...

Clustering of HR + /HER2− breast cancer in an Asian cohort is driven by immune phenotypes

Breast cancer exhibits significant heterogeneity, manifesting in various subtypes that are critical in guiding treatment decisions. This study aimed to investigate the existence of distinct subtypes of breast ...

Outcomes of sentinel node biopsy according to MRI response in an association with the subtypes in cN1–3 breast cancer after neoadjuvant systemic therapy, multicenter cohort study

This study investigated the feasibility of sentinel lymph node biopsy (SLNB) after neoadjuvant systemic therapy (NAST) in patients with initially high nodal burden.

Meeting Abstracts from the British Society of Breast Radiology annual scientific meeting 2023

This article is part of a Supplement: Volume 26 Supplement 1

Selective omission of sentinel lymph node biopsy in mastectomy for ductal carcinoma in situ: identifying eligible candidates

Sentinel lymph node biopsy (SLNB) is recommended for patients with ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS) undergoing mastectomy, given the concerns regarding upstaging and technical difficulties of post-mastectomy SL...

Metabolomics assisted by transcriptomics analysis to reveal metabolic characteristics and potential biomarkers associated with treatment response of neoadjuvant therapy with TCbHP regimen in HER2 + breast cancer

This study aimed to explore potential indicators associated with the neoadjuvant efficacy of TCbHP regimen (taxane, carboplatin, trastuzumab, and pertuzumab) in HER2 + breast cancer (BrCa) patients.

Chitin-mediated blockade of chitinase-like proteins reduces tumor immunosuppression, inhibits lymphatic metastasis and enhances anti-PD-1 efficacy in complementary TNBC models

Chitinase-like proteins (CLPs) play a key role in immunosuppression under inflammatory conditions such as cancer. CLPs are enzymatically inactive and become neutralized upon binding of their natural ligand chi...

Serum protein profiling reveals an inflammation signature as a predictor of early breast cancer survival

Breast cancers exhibit considerable heterogeneity in their biology, immunology, and prognosis. Currently, no validated, serum protein-based tools are available to evaluate the prognosis of patients with early ...

U2AF2-SNORA68 promotes triple-negative breast cancer stemness through the translocation of RPL23 from nucleoplasm to nucleolus and c-Myc expression

Small nucleolar RNAs (snoRNAs) play key roles in ribosome biosynthesis. However, the mechanism by which snoRNAs regulate cancer stemness remains to be fully elucidated.

Clinical factors associated with patterns of endocrine therapy adherence in premenopausal breast cancer patients

Patients with hormone receptor positive breast cancer are recommended at least five years of adjuvant endocrine therapy, but adherence to this treatment is often suboptimal. We investigated longitudinal trends...

Correction: Mcl-1 confers protection of Her2-positive breast cancer cells to hypoxia: therapeutic implications

The original article was published in Breast Cancer Research 2016 18 :26

Exploring the dynamic interplay between exosomes and the immune tumor microenvironment: implications for breast cancer progression and therapeutic strategies

Breast cancer continues to pose a substantial worldwide health concern, demanding a thorough comprehension of the complex interaction between cancerous cells and the immune system. Recent studies have shown th...

Establishing conditions for the generation and maintenance of estrogen receptor-positive organoid models of breast cancer

Patient-derived organoid models of estrogen receptor-positive (ER+) breast cancer would provide a much-needed tool to understand drug resistance and disease progression better. However, the establishment and l...

Factors associated with overall survival in breast cancer patients with leptomeningeal disease (LMD): a single institutional retrospective review

Breast cancer-related leptomeningeal disease (BC-LMD) is a dire diagnosis for 5–8% of patients with breast cancer (BC). We conducted a retrospective review of BC-LMD patients diagnosed at Moffitt Cancer Center...

Paradoxical cancer cell proliferation after FGFR inhibition through decreased p21 signaling in FGFR1-amplified breast cancer cells

Fibroblast growth factors (FGFs) control various cellular functions through fibroblast growth factor receptor (FGFR) activation, including proliferation, differentiation, migration, and survival. FGFR amplific...

Correction: The novel phosphatase NUDT5 is a critical regulator of triple-negative breast cancer growth

The original article was published in Breast Cancer Research 2024 26 :23

Temporal changes in mammographic breast density and breast cancer risk among women with benign breast disease

Benign breast disease (BBD) and high mammographic breast density (MBD) are prevalent and independent risk factors for invasive breast cancer. It has been suggested that temporal changes in MBD may impact futur...

Expression- and splicing-based multi-tissue transcriptome-wide association studies identified multiple genes for breast cancer by estrogen-receptor status

Although several transcriptome-wide association studies (TWASs) have been performed to identify genes associated with overall breast cancer (BC) risk, only a few TWAS have explored the differences in estrogen ...

BIRC5 expression by race, age and clinical factors in breast cancer patients

Survivin/BIRC5 is a proliferation marker that is associated with poor prognosis in breast cancer and an attractive therapeutic target. However, BIRC5 has not been well studied among racially diverse population...

Factors associated with engraftment success of patient-derived xenografts of breast cancer

Patient-derived xenograft (PDX) models serve as a valuable tool for the preclinical evaluation of novel therapies. They closely replicate the genetic, phenotypic, and histopathological characteristics of prima...

TMEM120B strengthens breast cancer cell stemness and accelerates chemotherapy resistance via β1-integrin/FAK-TAZ-mTOR signaling axis by binding to MYH9

Breast cancer stem cell (CSC) expansion results in tumor progression and chemoresistance; however, the modulation of CSC pluripotency remains unexplored. Transmembrane protein 120B (TMEM120B) is a newly discov...

Breast cancer survivors suffering from lymphedema: What really do affect to corporeality/body image? A qualitative study

Breast cancer-related lymphedema is currently one of the most serious complications that most affect the quality of life of women undergoing breast cancer. The aim of this study was to explore in-depth the exp...

Correction: a phase 1b study of zilovertamab in combination with paclitaxel for locally advanced/unresectable or metastatic HER2-negative breast cancer

The original article was published in Breast Cancer Research 2024 26 :32

Breast composition during and after puberty: the Chilean Growth and Obesity Cohort Study

Breast density (BD) is a strong risk factor for breast cancer. Little is known about how BD develops during puberty. Understanding BD trajectories during puberty and its determinants could be crucial for promo...

UCHL1 contributes to insensitivity to endocrine therapy in triple-negative breast cancer by deubiquitinating and stabilizing KLF5

Ubiquitin carboxyl-terminal hydrolase L1 (UCHL1) is a deubiquitinating enzyme that regulates ERα expression in triple-negative cancer (TNBC). This study aimed to explore the deubiquitination substrates of UCHL...

Cell morphology best predicts tumorigenicity and metastasis in vivo across multiple TNBC cell lines of different metastatic potential

Metastasis is the leading cause of death in breast cancer patients. For metastasis to occur, tumor cells must invade locally, intravasate, and colonize distant tissues and organs, all steps that require tumor ...

The role of surgical tissue injury and intraoperative sympathetic activation in postoperative immunosuppression after breast-conserving surgery versus mastectomy: a prospective observational study

Breast cancer is the second most common cause of death from cancer in women worldwide. Counterintuitively, large population-based retrospective trials report better survival after breast-conserving surgery (BC...

HER2-low and tumor infiltrating lymphocytes in triple-negative breast cancer: Are they connected?

Most patients with triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) are not candidates for targeted therapy, leaving chemotherapy as the primary treatment option. Recently, immunotherapy has demonstrated promising results...

Detection of HER2 expression using 99m Tc-NM-02 nanobody in patients with breast cancer: a non-randomized, non-blinded clinical trial

99m Tc radiolabeled nanobody NM-02 ( 99m Tc-NM-02) is a novel single photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) probe with a high affinity and specificity for human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2). In thi...

How does weight gain since the age of 18 years affect breast cancer risk in later life? A meta-analysis

Early life factors are important risk factors for breast cancer. The association between weight gain after age 18 and breast cancer risk is inconsistent across previous epidemiologic studies. To evaluate this ...

Clinically relevant gene signatures provide independent prognostic information in older breast cancer patients

The clinical utility of gene signatures in older breast cancer patients remains unclear. We aimed to determine signature prognostic capacity in this patient subgroup.

The FBXW7-binding sites on FAM83D are potential targets for cancer therapy

Increasing evidence shows the oncogenic function of FAM83D in human cancer, but how FAM83D exerts its oncogenic function remains largely unclear. Here, we investigated the importance of FAM83D/FBXW7 interactio...

A risk analysis of alpelisib-induced hyperglycemia in patients with advanced solid tumors and breast cancer

Hyperglycemia is an on-target effect of PI3Kα inhibitors. Early identification and intervention of treatment-induced hyperglycemia is important for improving management of patients receiving a PI3Kα inhibitor ...

Overcoming doxorubicin resistance in triple-negative breast cancer using the class I-targeting HDAC inhibitor bocodepsin/OKI-179 to promote apoptosis

Triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) is an aggressive breast cancer subtype with a poor prognosis. Doxorubicin is part of standard curative therapy for TNBC, but chemotherapy resistance remains an important cl...

PTHrP intracrine actions divergently influence breast cancer growth through p27 and LIFR

The role of parathyroid hormone (PTH)-related protein (PTHrP) in breast cancer remains controversial, with reports of PTHrP inhibiting or promoting primary tumor growth in preclinical studies. Here, we provide...

Small molecule inhibitor targeting the Hsp70-Bim protein–protein interaction in estrogen receptor-positive breast cancer overcomes tamoxifen resistance

Estrogen receptor (ER) positive patients compromise about 70% of breast cancers. Tamoxifen, an antagonist of ERα66 (the classic ER), is the most effective and the standard first-line drug. However, its efficac...

A phase 1b study of zilovertamab in combination with paclitaxel for locally advanced/unresectable or metastatic HER2-negative breast cancer

Zilovertamab is a humanized monoclonal antibody targeting ROR1, an onco-embryonic antigen expressed by malignant cells of a variety of solid tumors, including breast cancer. A prior phase 1 study showed that z...

The Correction to this article has been published in Breast Cancer Research 2024 26 :46

Augmented interpretation of HER2, ER, and PR in breast cancer by artificial intelligence analyzer: enhancing interobserver agreement through a reader study of 201 cases

Accurate classification of breast cancer molecular subtypes is crucial in determining treatment strategies and predicting clinical outcomes. This classification largely depends on the assessment of human epide...

The prostate-specific membrane antigen holds potential as a vascular target for endogenous radiotherapy with [ 177 Lu]Lu-PSMA-I&T for triple-negative breast cancer

Overexpression of prostate-specific membrane antigen (PSMA) on the vasculature of triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) presents a promising avenue for targeted endogenous radiotherapy with [ 177 Lu]Lu-PSMA-I&T. Thi...

Metabolic adaptation towards glycolysis supports resistance to neoadjuvant chemotherapy in early triple negative breast cancers

Neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NAC) is the standard of care for patients with early-stage triple negative breast cancers (TNBC). However, more than half of TNBC patients do not achieve a pathological complete respo...

Identification of CD160-TM as a tumor target on triple negative breast cancers: possible therapeutic applications

Despite major therapeutic advances, triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) still presents a worth prognosis than hormone receptors-positive breast cancers. One major issue relies in the molecular and mutational ...

Contrast-enhanced ultrasound to predict malignant upgrading of atypical ductal hyperplasia

A malignancy might be found at surgery in cases of atypical ductal hyperplasia (ADH) diagnosed via US-guided core needle biopsy (CNB). The objective of this study was to investigate the diagnostic performance ...

MRI-based tumor shrinkage patterns after early neoadjuvant therapy in breast cancer: correlation with molecular subtypes and pathological response after therapy

MRI-based tumor shrinkage patterns (TSP) after neoadjuvant therapy (NAT) have been associated with pathological response. However, the understanding of TSP after early NAT remains limited. We aimed to analyze ...

• Editorial Board
• Manuscript editing services
• Instructions for Editors
• Sign up for article alerts and news from this journal
• Collections
• Follow us on Twitter

Annual Journal Metrics

2022 Citation Impact 7.4 - 2-year Impact Factor 7.4 - 5-year Impact Factor 1.764 - SNIP (Source Normalized Impact per Paper) 2.408 - SJR (SCImago Journal Rank)

2023 Speed 20 days submission to first editorial decision for all manuscripts (Median) 129 days submission to accept (Median)

2023 Usage  2,432,781 downloads 1,561 Altmetric mentions

• More about our metrics

Breast Cancer Research

ISSN: 1465-542X

• Submission enquiries: [email protected]

•   Hjem
• Universitetet i Stavanger
• Faculty of Health Sciences
• PhD theses (HV)
• Vis innførsel

Discovery and Validation of Biomarkers in Breast Cancer

Egeland, nina gran, doctoral thesis.

Permanent lenke

Utgivelsesdato.

• PhD theses (HV) [50]

Originalversjon

Består av, opphavsrett.

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

• View all journals
• My Account Login
• Explore content
• About the journal
• Publish with us
• Sign up for alerts
• Review Article
• Open access
• Published: 04 May 2024

Clinical Studies

Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on breast cancer patient pathways and outcomes in the United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland – a scoping review

• Lynne Lohfeld   ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0003-4711-7305 1   na1 ,
• Meenakshi Sharma 1   na1 ,
• Damien Bennett 2 ,
• Anna Gavin 1 , 2 ,
• Sinéad T. Hawkins   ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0002-3340-2917 1 , 2 ,
• Gareth Irwin 3 ,
• Helen Mitchell 2 ,
• Siobhan O’Neill 3 &
• Charlene M. McShane 1  

British Journal of Cancer ( 2024 ) Cite this article

283 Accesses

3 Altmetric

Metrics details

• Breast cancer
• Health services

The COVID-19 pandemic brought unplanned service disruption for breast cancer diagnostic, treatment and support services. This scoping review describes these changes and their impact in the UK and the Republic of Ireland based on studies published between January 2020 and August 2023. Thirty-four of 569 papers were included. Data were extracted and results thematically organized. Findings include fewer new cases; stage shift (fewer early- and more late-stage disease); and changes to healthcare organization, breast screening and treatment. Examples are accepting fewer referrals, applying stricter referral criteria and relying more on virtual consultations and multi-disciplinary meetings. Screening service programs paused during the pandemic before enacting risk-based phased restarts with longer appointment times to accommodate reduced staffing numbers and enhanced infection-control regimes. Treatments shifted from predominantly conventional to hypofractionated radiotherapy, fewer surgical procedures and increased use of bridging endocrine therapy. The long-term impact of such changes are unknown so definitive guidelines for future emergencies are not yet available. Cancer registries, with their large sample sizes and population coverage, are well placed to monitor changes to stage and survival despite difficulties obtaining definitive staging during diagnosis because surgery and pathological assessments are delayed. Multisite longitudinal studies can also provide guidance for future disaster preparedness.

Similar content being viewed by others

The COVID-19 pandemic and impact on breast cancer diagnoses: what happened in England in the first half of 2020

Breast cancer management pathways during the COVID-19 pandemic: outcomes from the UK ‘Alert Level 4’ phase of the B-MaP-C study

Transforming post pandemic cancer services

Introduction.

Approximately 60,000 people are diagnosed with breast cancer annually in the United Kingdom (UK) and the Republic of Ireland (RoI) [ 1 , 2 ]. Services for screening, diagnosing, treating and follow up of patients provided through national health care services varied by country. During both the initial phase of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 and throughout subsequent peaks in transmission, various restrictions were implemented that limited and/or changed how breast cancer was diagnosed, treated and managed in much of the world [ 3 ], including the UK and RoI. Given the importance of early detection and treatment of cancer, there is concern over how COVID- related service delays may affect cancer patients now and in the future regarding stage at diagnosis, prognosis and mortality [ 4 ]. Because potentially life-changing decisions about cancer patients’ care have been made rapidly without the benefit of prior experience, there has been a sudden increase in studies examining possible pandemic impacts on breast cancer services and patients. To better understand the full impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on breast cancer diagnosis, treatment and patient outcomes in the UK and RoI, we conducted a scoping review that would examine findings from several studies conducted in these countries.

Scoping reviews aim to rapidly map key concepts in a research area that have not been studied comprehensively and identify research gaps in the existing literature [ 5 ].

The present scoping review used Arksey and O’Malley’s [ 6 ] framework, minus the last step of expert validation of findings due to resource constraints. Generally, this type of review does not include a critical appraisal of the constituent material. The Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic reviews and Meta-Analyses extension for Scoping Reviews (PRISMA-ScR) checklist was used to report the review findings [ 7 ].

A systematic search was conducted on five electronic databases -- PubMed, Medline, Web of Science, Embase and PyschInfo -- using key words and MeSH headings for breast cancer services and outcomes in the countries of interest (Fig.  1 ). Inclusion criteria were publication in English in a peer-reviewed journal between 1 January 2020 and 31 August 2023, and reporting on primary data collected in the UK or RoI. Papers excluded from this report either did not meet the inclusion criteria or: described an intervention other than healthcare system changes or patient outcomes directly related to breast cancer; provided data from multiple locations without separately identifying results from the UK and/or the RoI; or were systematic reviews, conference abstracts, or proceedings, or unpublished (grey) literature. A hand search of the reference lists of each included paper was done.

Symbols: $ is a wildcard to expand the search term and find both British and American spellings of the same word. .mp. means multi-purpose for an Advanced search without specifying a particular field. / means the term preceding it is from the MeSH headings in MEDLINE.

Results from each electronic database were imported into the Covidence systematic review software [ 8 ], an online tool to support doing systematic reviews that automatically removes duplicate entries. Title and abstract screening was done independently by three reviewers (CM, LL, MS) who discussed differences of opinion about papers’ eligibility until reaching consensus. After removing ineligible studies, the remaining papers were downloaded and independently screened by the reviewers against the inclusion and exclusion criteria. Any differences of opinion were resolved through discussion. The reviewers included a cancer epidemiologist, a public health professional and a medical anthropologist.

Data were extracted from the selected papers and entered into an Excel spreadsheet containing information on the bibliography (authors, title, journal, publication date), study aims and design, geographic location, and key findings (Table  1 , Supplementary Material). Results were then organised thematically to describe the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the organisation of breast cancer services, referrals/diagnosis and number of cases, and treatment.

A study protocol was not written and registered. The scoping review is part of a larger study on the impact of COVID-19 on breast cancer services in Northern Ireland.

The electronic database search returned 569 studies. Following duplicate removal ( n  = 228), over half (176/341, 51.6%) of the screened studies were deemed irrelevant, leaving 165 studies for full-text review. Of these studies, 129 were excluded, primarily because they were published as a conference abstract. The remaining 34 papers used in the review included 16 studies conducted in England [ 9 , 10 , 11 , 12 , 13 , 14 , 15 , 16 , 17 , 18 , 19 , 20 , 21 , 22 , 23 , 24 ], four in Scotland [ 25 , 26 , 27 , 28 ], three in [ 29 , 30 , 31 ] Wales, one in Northern Ireland [ 32 ], three in the UK [ 33 , 34 , 35 ], one in Ireland [ 36 ] and six that used data from multiple countries which included at least one site in the UK and/or [ 37 , 38 , 39 , 40 , 41 , 42 ] RoI. No additional studies of interest were identified in the hand search of reference lists (Fig.  2 ).

Prisma flowchart.

Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the organisation of breast cancer services

During the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic (March–April 2020), population-based breast cancer screening programs were paused in many jurisdictions, including the UK and RoI. There were also major changes in how members of multidisciplinary teams (MDTs) met to develop treatment plans for breast cancer patients [ 11 , 37 ]. One study in an English hospital tested the acceptability of video-conferencing MDT meetings with participants attending in person or from a remote location. After overcoming minor technical difficulties (e.g. uninterrupted access to online meetings, ensuring participants had the necessary equipment to attend meetings remotely) all the participants indicated that online meetings were acceptable or their preferred mode of communication [ 11 ]. Another study surveyed breast pathologists in the UK and RoI who reported their MDTs often met in small virtual meetings [ 37 ]. Although nearly three-quarters of them indicated their workload and productivity decreased during the pandemic, 36% reported improved efficiency [ 37 ]. No study reported on the optimal balance between virtual and in-person meetings.

Three studies examined changes made to referral pathways to breast clinics or units in response to the COVID-19 pandemic [ 14 , 19 , 23 ]. One study, using data from England’s National Health Service, reported a 28% decline in referrals for suspected breast cancer during the first six months of 2020 compared to the same period in 2019 [ 14 ]. Another research group reported an even greater decline (−35%) in the number of women attending a one-stop rapid breast clinic in England during the initial lockdown (March-April 2020) compared to June-July that year [ 23 ].

A study reported on rapid adaptations made by a London-based breast cancer service in line with The Royal College of Surgeons guidelines to reduce the risk of COVID-19 [ 19 ]. Examples include providing space to maintain the recommended two metre distance between people; fewer appointments plus longer time between them to allow for thorough cleaning of surfaces; following stricter criteria for urgent referrals; and conducting routine follow-up appointments over the phone. In addition, although diagnostic imaging with ultrasound and mammogram continued to be available, all routine surveillance imaging was deferred for three months. Operations were conducted by small teams of specialists who travelled to a “cold” (free of COVID-19 cases) private hospital [ 19 ]. Virtual appointments quickly became the norm for many patients. However, as noted by one research team [ 14 ] this increased the potential for greater inequality of access to care by the elderly or people of lower socioeconomic status.

Several studies observed smaller-than-expected numbers of attendees at breast cancer screening and treatment centres [ 9 , 23 , 26 , 41 ]. This was noteworthy given the association between early detection through screening and the potential to reduce treatment needed potential to reduce treatment needed with better patient outcomes. Reasons for the downtrend in attendance ranged from centres issuing fewer invitations to ensure adequate time between appointments for cleaning equipment [ 26 ], to women declining invitations to be screened due to fears of being exposed to SARS-CoV-2 when in a healthcare facility [ 9 ].

Other investigators focused on how to effectively restart breast screening programs [ 18 , 26 ]. A Scottish study described the benefits of using a phased approach for this, giving priority to high-risk women, followed by recalling program participants, issuing new invitations to women of screening (age 50–70 years or older) or those who had missed or cancelled earlier appointments [ 26 ]. In another study [ 18 ], researchers in London investigated whether switching from sending women invitations to attend a specific appointment (“timed appointments”) to having them book their sessions (“open appointments”) would reduce the backlog of unscreened eligible women. Both invitation types were used between September 2020 and March 2021, allowing researchers to conduct a natural experiment to examine which approach had the greatest response [ 18 ]. The authors found significantly fewer women responded to the open than to the timed invitation (−7.5%) and estimated that if timed invitations were exclusively used approximately 12,000 more women would have attended screening and about 100 more women with breast cancer would have been detected [ 18 ].

The Impact of COVID-19 on referrals, diagnoses and numbers of patients with breast cancer

A major concern regarding COVID-19 is the possible effect that delaying or modifying diagnosis and treatment would have on patients, including those with symptomatic disease, and the potential for excess breast cancer deaths. An English study used national data to estimate the impact of curtailing screening during the first lockdown on predicted breast cancer deaths from 2020 to 2029. The authors estimated up to 687 additional deaths in that 10-year period [ 13 ]. Routinely collected NHS England data were used to compare referral patterns and time to first treatment for breast cancer during the pandemic (first half of 2020) compared to the same period in 2019 [ 14 ]. Results showed a 28% decrease in diagnostic services and 16% of patients receiving their first treatment. They also noted that hormonal therapy, administered in tablet form, had become a frequent alternative to surgery – the mainstay treatment for breast cancer before the pandemic [ 14 ].

Five studies reported on the number of new breast cancer cases during the pandemic in Wales and England [ 10 , 20 , 22 , 29 , 30 ], with results varying widely by location and time period. For example, a Welsh study [ 29 ] found a 2% reduction of cases in April 2020 compared to the same period in 2019, whereas an English study reported a 17.9% reduction in March-April 2020 versus 2019 [ 20 ]. Three other English studies [ 10 , 22 , 30 ] reported reductions in the number of new diagnoses ranging from 19.1% to 29.5%.

Four studies [ 10 , 22 , 28 , 30 ] reported on changes in disease severity or stage of cancer at diagnosis, finding clear evidence of stage migration to more advanced cases attributed to delayed diagnosis of new cases.

Most breast cancer diagnoses are confirmed through pathology. A study [ 32 ] from Northern Ireland compared the number of pathologically-diagnosed (PD) breast cancer cases before the pandemic (2017–2019) with numbers during the early pandemic. The researchers found 105 fewer breast cancer cases in 2020, with the greatest reductions in the early months (−40% in April, −52% in May) [ 32 ]. A UK-based study [ 39 ] compared population-based cancer registry data from Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales, with sharp declines in the number of patients with breast cancers in each country (−53.5% in Northern Ireland, −45.3% in Scotland, −43.5% in Wales). The finding of fewer PD-confirmed cases of breast cancer was also reported in a study [ 36 ] conducted in the histopathology departments of two university hospitals in Northwest RoI. The larger hospital reported a decline of 21.5% and 14.4% in the first six months of 2020 compared to 2019 for samples from small biopsy diagnostic procedures and cancer resection cases, respectively [ 36 ].

The Impact of COVID-19 on Treatment: As noted in several studies [ 17 , 21 , 24 , 25 , 31 , 34 , 35 , 40 , 42 ], efforts to reduce the risk of exposure to COVID-19 SARS-CoV-2 for patients and healthcare providers resulted in fewer surgical, radiotherapy or systemic treatments of breast cancer patients. There were also changes to facility procedures used to reduce the amount of time patients were potentially exposed in medical facilities.

Four studies [ 17 , 21 , 40 , 42 ] addressed changes to surgical treatment during the pandemic. One of them reported on an international web-based poll with over 100 oncological surgeons that included practitioners from the UK. In both Scotland and England, surgical priority was given to patients with ER-negative disease first followed by those with HER2-positive disease, and that neoadjuvant chemotherapy was to be given following standard criteria. In England, there was also a recommendation to focus on providing minimal treatment via day surgery, with neoadjuvant chemotherapy to be reserved for patients whose disease was deemed to be inoperable [ 42 ].

Another study found a 34% decline in “radical surgery with curative intent” for breast cancer done in a large London cancer centre from March to September 2020 compared to 2019 [ 40 ]. Surgical practices were also altered, such as having procedures done by only consultant surgeons because junior doctors were redeployed to COVID-19-related duties during the first two months of the pandemic [ 40 ]. Another study [ 21 ], conducted at the Oxford University Hospitals in England, reported the unit followed recommendations from the Association of Breast Surgery and did not perform immediate or delayed breast reconstruction between the start of lockdown (23 March 2020) and the end of May despite the known psychological and physical benefits of immediate reconstruction for many women. In two English hospitals surgical procedures continued during the pandemic but at greatly reduced numbers compared to 2019, with declines in both immediate and delayed reconstructive surgeries. Patients also had significantly shorter hospital stays post-surgery [ 17 ].

Widespread changes to radiotherapy regimens also occurred during the pandemic. Earlier, conventional treatment entailed giving 40–42.5 Gray (Gy) units of radiation divided into 15 treatments or ‘fractions’ (F) over a 3-week period. During the pandemic, this protocol was replaced in many centres with a hypofractionated radiation regimen consisting of a smaller amount of radiation divided into five treatments given over a week (26GyF5). The impetus for this was the publication of guidelines by The Royal College of Radiologists [ 43 ] recommending this shift based on findings from the FAST-Forward non-inferiority trial [ 44 ] and the B-MaP-C study [ 45 ].

Radiation oncology teams quickly complied, reporting increases during the pandemic (up from 13 to 48% in Wales, [ 31 ] and 0.2% to 60.6% in England [ 24 ] and 2.7% to 46.1% in Scotland [ 27 ]), as well as during the pandemic. (up from <1% in February to 70% in April 2020 in a study from England and Wales [ 38 ]).

Another four studies [ 12 , 25 , 34 , 35 ] examined changes in systemic anticancer treatment (SACT), noting this was used as a “bridging” or pre-operative treatment while waiting for breast cancer surgery during the pandemic. One study from England [ 42 ] found a 33% decrease in the number of patients registered for SACT immediately after the initial lockdown (April–June 2020) compared to numbers from September 2019 to February 2020.

Modifying or halting cancer treatments was also identified in the B-Map-C study [ 45 ] -- a multicentre national project involving 64 breast units in the UK – which reported that 59% of all breast cancer patients received a “COVID-altered” management plan (e.g. interrupted neoadjuvant chemotherapy or bridging endocrine therapy instead of surgery) during the initial pandemic period from March 16 to May 8, 2020 [ 34 ]. In contrast, a study conducted in a hospital in England found that 56% of women being treated for breast cancer chose to continue SACT despite clear recommendations from the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE guidelines) [ 46 ] that such treatment should stop during the pandemic to reduce the risk of exposure to SARS-CoV-2 in a hospital setting. Some authors suggest this indicates that many patients feared the effects of not treating their cancer more than they feared COVID-19 [ 35 ].

The studies included in this scoping review identified unprecedented changes to breast cancer services over a short period of time. During the COVID-19 pandemic people with non-urgent stage disease typically diagnosed via screening (e.g. breast, colorectal or cervical cancer) saw a decrease in the number of new cases due to temporary closures or reduced healthcare facility capacity [ 47 ]. This pattern is borne out by population-based data from national cancer registries reporting 11–21% fewer cases diagnosed during the pandemic in ROI [ 1 ] and the UK [ 47 , 48 , 49 , 50 , 51 ] despite a year-on-year increase in cases.

Evidence exists for both overdiagnosis and benefits from diagnosing breast cancer through screening. [ 52 ] It is inevitable that pauses in population-based screening programs during the pandemic resulted in fewer early-stage cancers being diagnosed. However, the long-term deleterious effects of halting screening programs during health emergencies has yet to be determined. None of the included papers in the review were able to provide evidence of direct harm to patients due to reduced detection rates, despite evidence of more advanced disease on detection. In fact, one study clearly indicated that such delays may have less of an impact than commonly believed for surgeries conducted <12 weeks after diagnosis [ 53 ]. The full extent of harm caused to people with breast cancer can only be answered once enough data comparing outcomes related to delayed services before, during and after the pandemic have been analysed.

The studies examined in this scoping review point to efforts made to continue to offer timely services, including early detection and treatment, with a focus on identifying high-priority patients based on tumour- and patient-related characteristics [ 52 ] taking into account availability of healthcare personnel and services during the pandemic [ 54 , 55 ]. Recovery plans for future emergencies [ 56 ] must help implementers decide whether to prioritise rapid resumption of breast screening programs or preserve symptomatic diagnostic services [ 4 ] while taking measures to minimise the risk of communicable disease transmission for patients and staff in breast clinics [ 33 ].

There are also lessons to be learned about the benefits of rapidly incorporating evidence from high-quality studies, such as the FAST-FORWARD clinical trial demonstrating the effectiveness of hypofractionated radiotherapy for eligible patients, into clinical practice during the pandemic [ 44 ]. Another modification was to preferentially offer neoadjuvant therapy over surgery for triple negative or HER2+ patients during the pandemic. This likely was to reduce through flow in chemotherapy departments, thereby reducing the risk of exposing immunocompromised patients to SARS-CoV-2 [ 28 ], although future studies will be needed to determine the effectiveness and long-term impact of this change.

It is also important to adapt international guidelines to fit local conditions [ 57 ]. Factors to consider would be how to continue providing services while safeguarding patients and staff given local resources, what criteria to use when identifying high-priority patients during times of reduced service availability, ensuring that resources are available for increased use of remote/virtual consultations and MDT meetings, as well as developing locally acceptable approaches to phasing in full services post-emergency [ 58 ].

Other recommendations for breast cancer programs focus on ways to avoid undertreatment with neoadjuvant therapy and, in some cases, providing breast-conserving operations [ 54 ] in “clean” surgical sites even during a health emergency. Benefits from continuing to operate include ensuring that surgical trainees continue developing their skills, and so there will be more clinicians available to help reduce the backlog of patients once operations resume [ 54 ]. Second, it should reduce the number of women experiencing unnecessary anxiety and depression, which have been found in patients waiting considerable time for their breast surgery [ 59 , 60 ]. Third, as recommended by the British Association of Plastic, Reconstructive and Aesthetic Surgeons in the UK [ 61 ], resuming breast reconstruction quickly can help prevent unnecessarily long or repeat procedures due to tissue change that occurs over time after a mastectomy, which increase hospital stay and potentially the risk of exposure to SARS-CoV-2. However, the link between length of stay and infection rates has yet to be proven. It is also important to consider the surgical environment, as noted by The Royal College of Surgeons in May 2020 [ 62 ]. This included guidelines for the “four Ps”: the Place for surgeries should be reconfigured to provide a safe setting for patients and clinicians; People should return to their pre-COVID work in order to reduce the backlog of elective cases; PPE should be made available for all staff; and no major surgery for Positive Tests (i.e. if patients test positive for COVID-19) except for life-, (limb- or sight-saving procedures) [ 21 ]. Future research will determine if these actions are effective in reducing the risk of infection with SARS-CoV-2.

Public awareness campaigns should also be delivered that includes the clear communication [ 55 ] for people with relevant symptoms to seek medical care promptly [ 57 ], even at the height of a pandemic or other emergency.

Looking to the future, it will be important to fund research on the long-term impact of delayed or interrupted breast cancer services on patient outcomes such as cancer incidence, stage, tumour size and ultimately survival [ 15 , 16 , 63 ]. For instance, previous studies have found survival differences for women with breast cancer only if the delay in services was longer than 12 weeks [ 53 , 62 ]. Several of the papers in this review reported results from single-site retrospective studies [ 62 ], which is problematic because it is not possible to generalise their findings to other settings or populations. This problem can be alleviated by using data from multicentre investigations and national cancer registries. However, there are issues with obtaining timely information from registries. First, many registries do not have data on cancer recurrences, which makes it difficult to accurately assess the impact of health emergencies. Efforts to address this gap are being led by the European Network of Cancer Registries [ 58 ]. Second, cancer registries use patient-level data retrospectively after they are received and cleaned. Further delays in producing reports were identified during the COVID-19 pandemic, when monitoring was curtailed due to registry staff working off-site or allocated to pandemic-related duties. This delayed data analysis and report preparation. Several registries have reported they can address such problems in the future by adopting novel methods for more quickly assessing the impact of modified and interrupted services during health emergencies [ 64 ].

Although studies have documented changes in the breast cancer service profile and outcomes during the COVID-19 pandemic, there is no evidence available on whether these measures helped minimise the spread of the SARS-CoV-2 infection. Further research is also needed on the long-term effects of changes to breast cancer services for patients who had advanced disease on initial presentation or whose treatment was delayed [ 65 ]. Findings from such studies can be used to update models that predict the number of excess deaths from breast cancer due to interrupting care [ 66 ].

Studies are needed to provide insights into the following: how health emergencies affect the cost and availability of services while considering how closely they follow disaster preparedness guidelines; more accurate estimates of cancer risks and consequences for designing optimal recovery strategies [ 59 , 60 , 61 ]; and recommendations on how to address the backlog of breast cancer cases requiring surgery or other treatment in a timely and safe manner [ 67 , 68 ].

Perhaps the most important gap in current literature on the impact of COVID-19 on breast cancer services and patients is research to document the patient voice and experience, as well as research to evaluate improvements in service timeliness and efficiency during the pandemic which has not compromised patient satisfaction and safety.

Health emergencies like the COVID-19 pandemic are the norm rather than the exception. There are valuable lessons to be learned from existing studies conducted in the short time since the end of the pandemic. There is also a need to pool data and design future studies to provide more evidence to guide future plans on how to best meet the needs of women (and men) with breast cancer during future emergencies. It is impossible to completely prepare for future health emergencies, especially those involving novel pathogens. Evidence extrapolated from other infectious diseases, and recommendations by experts (e.g. oncologists, pathologists and patients) on how to better manage cancer treatments in future emergencies should be considered [ 69 ].

Strengths and limitations

To our knowledge, this is the first scoping review to examine the published literature on the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on breast cancer services and patient outcomes in the UK and RoI. The review was conducted following a strict protocol carried out by three reviewers with conflicts resolved by consensus.

Because of the short time since the end of the pandemic, findings from more definitive, longitudinal, population-based studies were not available to include in this review. The authors also chosen not to review the grey literature because there is no established guidelines for producing a rigorous review of material that does not meet the level of evidence expected by healthcare providers, commissioners and policymakers.

Another limitation is the wide variation in study design and context, such as the stage of the pandemic when data were being collected, among the studies included in the review. Of particular concern was the large number of retrospective, single-centre studies with data from a relatively homogeneous population, making it difficult to generalise findings beyond a particular study setting.

This scoping review presents a coherent picture of current published knowledge on the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on breast cancer services and patient outcomes in the UK and RoI. It also recommends ways to fill current knowledge gaps on this topic, summarising findings from studies documenting changes made to breast cancer services provided during the COVID-19 pandemic in the UK and RoI.

The long-term impact of these changes are still unknown. Lessons for future disaster preparedness will come from large-scale, multisite studies and cancer registries using data collected before, during and after the pandemic. Results will be useful for developing guidelines to help reduce the impact of future medical emergencies on people with breast cancer and on healthcare systems and providers.

Data availability

The dataset generated and/or analysed during the current study is available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.

Ireland NCR. Data & statistics 2024[Available from: https://www.ncri.ie/data ].

UK CR. Breast cancer statistics [Available from: https://www.cancerresearchuk.org/healthprofessional/cancer-statistics/statistics-by-cancer-type/breast-cancer ].

Spicer J, Chamberlain C, Papa S. Provision of cancer care during the COVID-19 pandemic. Nat Rev Clin Oncol. 2020;17:329–31.

Article   CAS   PubMed   PubMed Central   Google Scholar  

Figueroa JD, Gray E, Pashayan N, Deandrea S, Karch A, Vale DB, et al. The impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on breast cancer early detection and screening. Prev Med. 2021;151:106585.

Article   PubMed   PubMed Central   Google Scholar  

Mays N, Pope C, Popay J. Systematically reviewing qualitative and quantitative evidence to inform management and policy-making in the health field. J Health Serv Res Policy. 2005;10:6–20.

Article   PubMed   Google Scholar  

Arksey H, O’Malley L. Scoping studies: towards a methodological framework. Int J Soc Res Methodol. 2005;8:19–32.

Article   Google Scholar  

Tricco AC, Lillie E, Zarin W, O’Brien KK, Colquhoun H, Levac D, et al. PRISMA extension for scoping reviews (PRISMA-ScR): checklist and explanation. Ann Intern Med. 2018;169:467–73.

Covidence systematic review software. Veritas Health Innovation, Melbourne, Australia.

Armitage RC, Morling JR. The impact of COVID-19 on national screening programmes in England. Public Health. 2021;198:174–6.

Article   CAS   PubMed   Google Scholar  

Borsky K, Shah K, Cunnick G, Tsang-Wright F. Pattern of breast cancer presentation during the COVID-19 pandemic: results from a cohort study in the UK. Future Oncol. 2022;18:437–43.

Cathcart P, Smith S, Clayton G. Strengths and limitations of video-conference multidisciplinary management of breast disease during the COVID-19 pandemic. Br J Surg. 2021;108:e20–e1.

Clark JJ, Dwyer D, Pinwill N, Clark P, Johnson P, Hackshaw A. The effect of clinical decision making for initiation of systemic anticancer treatments in response to the COVID-19 pandemic in England: a retrospective analysis. Lancet Oncol. 2021;22:66–73.

Duffy SW, Seedat F, Kearins O, Press M, Walton J, Myles J, et al. The projected impact of the COVID-19 lockdown on breast cancer deaths in England due to the cessation of population screening: a national estimation. Br J Cancer. 2022;126:1355–61.

Gathani T, Clayton G, MacInnes E, Horgan K. The COVID-19 pandemic and impact on breast cancer diagnoses: what happened in England in the first half of 2020. Br J Cancer. 2021;124:710–2.

Gathani T, Reeves G, Dodwell D, Horgan K, Kearins O, Kan SW, et al. Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on breast cancer referrals and diagnoses in 2020 and 2021: a population-based study in England. Br J Surg. 2022;109:29–30.

Gathani T, Dodwell D, Horgan K. The impact of the first 2 years of the COVID-19 pandemic on breast cancer diagnoses: a population-based study in England. Br J Cancer. 2023;128:481–3.

Ho W, Köhler G, Haywood RM, Rosich-Medina A, Masud D. Microsurgical autologous breast reconstruction in the midst of a pandemic: A single-unit COVID-19 experience. J Plast Reconstr Aesthet Surg. 2022;75:112–7.

Hudson SM, Binysh K, Duffy SW. Did the use of open invitations in place of timed appointment invitations reduce the uptake of breast screening in the London region during the COVID-19 recovery? J Med Screen. 2023;30:87–91.

Joseph AO, Joseph JP, Pereira B, Gahir J. Coronavirus outbreak: reorganising the breast unit during a pandemic. Eur J Surg Oncol. 2020;46:1176–7.

MacInnes EG, Piper J, Tait C, Waterworth A, Achuthan R, Hogan B, et al. Breast cancer surgery during the COVID-19 pandemic peak in the UK: operative outcomes. Cureus 2020;12:e9280.

PubMed   PubMed Central   Google Scholar  

Markeson D, Freeman Romilly N, Potter M, Tucker S, Kalu P. Restarting plastic surgery: drawing on the experience of the initial COVID-19 pandemic to inform the safe resumption of services. J Plast Reconstr Aesthet Surg. 2020;73:2121–6.

Purushotham A, Roberts G, Haire K, Dodkins J, Harvey-Jones E, Han L, et al. The impact of national non-pharmaceutical interventions (‘lockdowns’) on the presentation of cancer patients. Ecancermedicalscience 2021;15:1180.

Shetty G, Datta U, Rea I, Rai S, Hwang MJ, Hoar F, et al. Rapid implementation of triaging system for assessment of breast referrals from primary care centres during the COVID-19 pandemic. Ann R Coll Surg Engl. 2021;103:576–82.

Spencer K, Jones CM, Girdler R, Roe C, Sharpe M, Lawton S, et al. The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on radiotherapy services in England, UK: a population-based study. Lancet Oncol. 2021;22:309–20.

Baxter MA, Murphy J, Cameron D, Jordan J, Crearie C, Lilley C, et al. The impact of COVID-19 on systemic anticancer treatment delivery in Scotland. Br J Cancer. 2021;124:1353–6.

Campbell C, Sommerfield T, Clark GRC, Porteous L, Milne AM, Millar R, et al. COVID-19 and cancer screening in Scotland: a national and coordinated approach to minimising harm. Prev Med. 2021;151:106606.

Grocutt L, Rutherford A, Caldwell D, Wilkinson C, Chalmers AJ, Dempsey L, et al. The impact of COVID-19 on radiotherapy services in Scotland, UK: a population-based study. Clin Oncol. 2023;35:e227–e34.

Article   CAS   Google Scholar  

Romics L, Doughty J, Stallard S, Mansell J, Blackhall V, Lannigan A, et al. A prospective cohort study of the safety of breast cancer surgery during COVID-19 pandemic in the West of Scotland. Breast 2021;55:1–6.

Bansal GJ, Saleem Z. The symptomatic breast services in a university hospital: pandemic peak compared to the pre-pandemic year and future implications. Ir J Med Sci. 2022;191:2475–9.

Greene G, Griffiths R, Han J, Akbari A, Jones M, Lyons J, et al. Impact of the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic on female breast, colorectal and non-small cell lung cancer incidence, stage and healthcare pathway to diagnosis during 2020 in Wales, UK, using a national cancer clinical record system. Br J Cancer. 2022;127:558–68.

Higgins E, Walters S, Powell E, Staffurth J. The impact of the acute phase of COVID-19 on radiotherapy demand in South East Wales. Clin Oncol (R Coll Radio). 2020;32:e217.

Mitchell H, McLean J, Gavin AT, Visser O, Millar E, Luff T, et al. Impact of COVID-19 control on lung, breast, and colorectal pathological cancer diagnoses. A comparison between the Netherlands, Aotearoa New Zealand, and Northern Ireland. BMC Cancer. 2023;23:700.

Bansal GJ, Chopra S. Symptomatic breast services in the post-COVID-19 era. Br J Hosp Med. 2021;82:1–3.

Dave RV, Kim B, Courtney A, O’Connell R, Rattay T, Taxiarchi VP, et al. Publisher Correction: breast cancer management pathways during the COVID-19 pandemic: outcomes from the UK ’Alert Level 4’ phase of the B-MaP-C study. Br J Cancer. 2021;125:905.

Gatfield ER, Mukesh MB, Loo SW. Adjuvant systemic anti-cancer therapy in early breast cancer during the COVID-19 pandemic: differences between clinicians and patients in perception of treatment risks and benefits. Clin Oncol. 2020;32:e218.

O’Connor E, O’Dowd G, Phelan S. Impact of COVID-19 on small biopsy diagnostic procedures and cancer resection surgeries in the North-West of Ireland. J Clin Pathol. 2022;75:270–3.

Elghobashy M, Wahab L, Gunavardhan A, O’Sullivan E, Provenzano E, Deb R, et al. Impact of COVID-19 on the practice of breast pathologists: a survey of breast pathologists in the UK and Ireland. J Clin Pathol. 2023;76:234–8.

Gannon MR, Dodwell D, Miller K, Horgan K, Clements K, Medina J, et al. Change in the use of fractionation in radiotherapy used for early breast cancer at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic: a population-based cohort study of older women in England and Wales. Clin Oncol. 2022;34:e400–e9.

Greene GJ, Thomson CS, Donnelly D, Chung D, Bhatti L, Gavin AT, et al. Whole-population trends in pathology-confirmed cancer incidence in Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales during the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic: a retrospective observational study. Cancer Epidemiol. 2023;84:102367.

Monroy-Iglesias MJ, Tagliabue M, Dickinson H, Roberts G, De Berardinis R, Russell B, et al. Continuity of cancer care: the surgical experience of two large cancer hubs in London and Milan. Cancers. 2021;13:1597.

Puricelli Perin DM, Elfström KM, Bulliard JL, Burón A, Campbell C, Flugelman AA, et al. Early assessment of the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic on cancer screening services: The International Cancer Screening Network COVID-19 survey. Prev Med. 2021;151:106642.

Rocco N, Montagna G, Di Micco R, Benson J, Criscitiello C, Chen L, et al. The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on surgical management of breast cancer: global trends and future perspectives. Oncologist 2021;26:e66–e77.

All our publications | The Royal College of Radiologists 2024 [Available from: https://www.rcr.ac.uk/our-services/all-our-publications/ .

Murray Brunt A, Haviland JS, Wheatley DA, Sydenham MA, Alhasso A, Bloomfield DJ, et al. Hypofractionated breast radiotherapy for 1 week versus 3 weeks (FAST-Forward): 5-year efficacy and late normal tissue effects results from a multicentre, non-inferiority, randomised, phase 3 trial. Lancet 2020;395:1613–26.

Courtney A, O’Connell R, Rattay T, Kim B, Cutress RI, Kirwan CC, et al. The B-MaP-C study: breast cancer management pathways during the COVID-19 pandemic. Study protocol. Int J Surg Protoc. 2020;24:1–5.

National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE). 2022. COVID-19 rapid guideline: delivery of systemic anticancer treatments. [Available from: https://www.nice.org.uik/guidance/NG161 ].

Northern Ireland Cancer Registry (NICR). 2024. Official Statistics: Cancer incidence and survival statistics for Northern Ireland: 1993-2021. [Available from: https://www.qub.ac.uk/research-centres/nicr/CancerInformation/official-statistics/ ].

NHS England. 2022. Cancer registration statistics, England 2020. [Available from: https://digitanl.nhs.uk/data-and-information/publications/statistical/cancer-registration-statistics/england-2020 ].

Breast Cancer Now. 2024. How the pandemic impacted breast cancer diagnosis in Wales [Available from: https://breastcancernow.org/about-us/campaign-news/how-pandemic-impacted-breast-cancer-diagnosis-in-wales/ ].

Marmot M, Allen J, Goldblatt P, Herd E, Morrison J Build Back Fairer: The COVID-19 Marmot Review. [Available from: https://www.health.org.uk/publications/build-back-fairer-the-covid-19-marmot-review ].

Public Health Scotland. 2022. Scottish Public Health Observatory quarterly update. [Available from: https://publichealthscotland.scot/publications/scottish-public-health-observatory-quarterly-update/scottish-publich-health0s/scottish-public-health-observatory-quarterly-update-march-2022 ].

Gasparri ML, Gentilini OD, Lueftner D, Kuehn T, Kaidar-Person O, Poortmans P. Changes in breast cancer management during the Corona Virus Disease 19 pandemic: an international survey of the European Breast Cancer Research Association of Surgical Trialists (EUBREAST). Breast 2020;52:110–5.

Bleicher RJ. Timing and delays in breast cancer evaluation and treatment. Ann Surg Oncol. 2018;25:2829–38.

Petropoulou Z, Arkadopoulos N, Michalopoulos NV breast cancer and COVID-19: challenges in surgical management. Cancers. 2022;14:5360.

Feletto E, Grogan P, Nickson C, Smith M, Canfell K, How has COVID-19 impacted cancer screening? Adaptation of services and the future outlook in Australia. Public Health Res Pract. 2020;30:e042026.

Hamilton W. Cancer diagnostic delay in the COVID-19 era: what happens next? Lancet Oncol. 2020;21:1000–2.

Linck PA, Garnier C, Depetiteville MP, MacGrogan G, Mathoulin-Pélissier S, Quénel-Tueux N, et al. Impact of the COVID-19 lockdown in France on the diagnosis and staging of breast cancers in a tertiary cancer centre. Eur Radio. 2022;32:1644–51.

European Network of Cancer Registries. 2024. Working groups. [Available from: https://encr.eu/Activities/Working-groups .]

Maringe C, Spicer J, Morris M, Purushotham A, Nolte E, Sullivan R, et al. The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on cancer deaths due to delays in diagnosis in England, UK: a national, population-based, modelling study. Lancet Oncol. 2020;21:1023–34.

Degeling K, Baxter NN, Emery J, Jenkins MA, Franchini F, Gibbs P, et al. An inverse stage-shift model to estimate the excess mortality and health economic impact of delayed access to cancer services due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Asia Pac J Clin Oncol. 2021;17:359–67.

Yong JH, Mainprize JG, Yaffe MJ, Ruan Y, Poirier AE, Coldman A, et al. The impact of episodic screening interruption: COVID-19 and population-based cancer screening in Canada. J Med Screen. 2021;28:100–7.

Kothari A, Fentiman IS. 22. Diagnostic delays in breast cancer and impact on survival. Int J Clin Pr. 2003;57:200–3.

Toss A, Callegari V, Cortesi G, Civallero M, Armocida C, Piacentini F. COVID-related disruption in mammographic screening: a year later. ESMO Open. 2022;7:100539.

National Disease Registration Service. 2021. COVID-19 rapid cancer registration and treatment data. [Available from: https://www.cancerdata.nhs.uk/covid-19/rcrd .]

Trojanowski M, Radomyski P, Matuszewski K, Litwiniuk M, Wierzchosławska E, Kycler W, Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on breast cancer stage at diagnosis in a regional cancer center in Poland between 2019 and 2021. J Pers Med. 2022;12:1486.

Walker MJ, Meggetto O, Gao J, Espino-Hernández G, Jembere N, Bravo CA, et al. Measuring the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on organized cancer screening and diagnostic follow-up care in Ontario, Canada: a provincial, population-based study. Prev Med. 2021;151:106586.

Miller MM, Meneveau MO, Rochman CM, Schroen AT, Lattimore CM, Gaspard PA, et al. Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on breast cancer screening volumes and patient screening behaviors. Breast Cancer Res Treat. 2021;189:237–46.

DeBoer RJ, Fadelu TA, Shulman LN, Van Loon K. Applying Lessons learned from low-resource settings to prioritize cancer care in a pandemic. JAMA Oncol. 2020;6:1429–33.

Curigliano G, Banerjee S, Cervantes A, Garassino MC, Garrido P, Girard N, et al. Managing cancer patients during the COVID-19 pandemic: an ESMO multidisciplinary expert consensus. Ann Oncol. 2020;31:1320–35.

Download references

Acknowledgements

Our thanks go to Breast Cancer Now, the research and support charity that provided funding for the “Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on the Diagnosis and Treatment of Breast Cancer” project, of which this scoping review is a part. We also thank Ms Paula Darragh and Dr Jamie Roebuck (Cancer Intelligence Officers, Northern Ireland Cancer Registry) for their work on the project.

This review was funded by Breast Cancer Now as part of a larger “Understanding the Impact of COVID-19 on Breast Cancer Services in Northern Ireland” study. The funder played no role in the decisions made during this review.

Author information

These authors contributed equally: Lynne Lohfeld, Meenakshi Sharma.

Authors and Affiliations

Queen’s University Belfast, Centre for Public Health, School of Medicine, Dentistry & Biomedical Sciences, Royal Victoria Hospital, 247 Grosvenor Road, Belfast, BT12 6BA, Northern Ireland, UK

Lynne Lohfeld, Meenakshi Sharma, Anna Gavin, Sinéad T. Hawkins & Charlene M. McShane

Northern Ireland Cancer Registry, Centre for Public Health, School of Medicine, Dentistry & Biomedical Sciences, Queen’s University Belfast, Mulhouse Building, Grosvenor Road, Belfast, BT12 6DP, Northern Ireland, UK

Damien Bennett, Anna Gavin, Sinéad T. Hawkins & Helen Mitchell

Belfast Health and Social Care Trust, 51 Lisburn Road, Belfast, BT9 7AB, Northern Ireland, UK

Gareth Irwin & Siobhan O’Neill

You can also search for this author in PubMed   Google Scholar

Contributions

LL conceived and designed the work, acquired the data, played an important role in interpreting the results, drafted and revised the manuscript, approved the final version, and agreed to be accountable for all aspects of the work in ensuring that questions related to the accuracy or integrity of any part of the work are appropriately investigated and resolved. MS and CMMcS conceived and designed the work, acquired the data, played an important role in interpreting the results, revised the manuscript, approved the final version, and agreed to be accountable for all aspects of the work. DB, AG, STH, GI, HM, and SON conceived the work, played an important role in interpreting the results, revised the manuscript, approved the final version and agreed to be accountable for all aspects of the work.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Lynne Lohfeld .

Ethics declarations

Competing interests.

The authors declare no competing interests.

Ethics approval and consent to participate

Competing interestsNo ethics approval or consent to participate was needed for this scoping review of published literature.

Consent for publication

No consent for publication was needed for this scoping review.

Additional information

Publisher’s note Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Supplementary information

Table 1: characteristics of 34 included studies, preferred reporting items for systematic reviews and meta-analyses extension for scoping reviews (prisma-scr) checklist, rights and permissions.

Open Access This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article’s Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article’s Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this licence, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ .

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article.

Lohfeld, L., Sharma, M., Bennett, D. et al. Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on breast cancer patient pathways and outcomes in the United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland – a scoping review. Br J Cancer (2024). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41416-024-02703-w

Download citation

Received : 27 November 2023

Revised : 12 April 2024

Accepted : 22 April 2024

Published : 04 May 2024

DOI : https://doi.org/10.1038/s41416-024-02703-w

Share this article

Anyone you share the following link with will be able to read this content:

Sorry, a shareable link is not currently available for this article.

Provided by the Springer Nature SharedIt content-sharing initiative

Quick links

• Explore articles by subject
• Guide to authors
• Editorial policies

• Help & Terms of Use
• Elizabeth Blackwell Institute for Health Research
• Phone 00 44 117 455 6360
• Email [email protected]
• Website http://www.bristol.ac.uk/cancer

United Kingdom

Student theses

• 1 - 50 out of 131 results
• Title (descending)

Search results

A biologically-inspired artificial lateral line: observations of collective behaviour in fish lead to the development of a novel design of simple and low-cost artificial lateral line sensor.

Supervisor: Hauert, S. (Supervisor), Ioannou, C. (Supervisor) & Genner, M. J. (Supervisor)

Student thesis : Doctoral Thesis › Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

A characterisation of mononuclear phagocyte dynamics in the healthy and regenerating zebrafish heart

Supervisor: Richardson, B. (Supervisor) & Martin, P. B. (Supervisor)

A Computational Framework for the Optimisation of Antivenom Pharmacokinetics and Pharmacodynamics

Supervisor: Hauert, S. (Supervisor), Blee, J. A. (Supervisor) & Collinson, I. R. (Supervisor)

An Epigenome-Wide Association Study of Eczema

Supervisor: Paternoster, L. (Supervisor), Elliott, H. (Supervisor) & Relton, C. (Supervisor)

Student thesis : Master's Thesis › Master of Science by Research (MScR)

An Investigation into the Link Between Sleep and Alzheimer’s Disease Using a Multi-Method Approach

Supervisor: Coulthard, E. J. (Supervisor) & Ben-Shlomo, Y. (Supervisor)

Applications of HS-AFM Imaging to Marine Microbial Life and its Environment

Supervisor: Day, J. C. C. (Supervisor), Picco, L. M. (Supervisor), Payton, O. D. (Supervisor) & Allen, M. (Supervisor)

Applying ‘omics to understand and predict juvenile idiopathic arthritis

Supervisor: Relton, C. (Supervisor), Ramanan, A. (Supervisor), Sharp, G. (Supervisor) & Zhou, Y. (External person) (Supervisor)

Appraising the causal relationship between DNA methylation and type 2 diabetes

Supervisor: Elliott, H. (Supervisor), Relton, C. (Supervisor) & Sharp, G. (Supervisor)

A qualitative exploration of recruiters' and patients' perspectives and experiences of the recruitment encounter in randomised controlled trials

Supervisor: Young, B. (Supervisor), Rooshenas, L. (Supervisor), Elliott, D. (Supervisor), Jepson, M. (Supervisor) & Donovan , J. L. (Supervisor)

Arole for IGFBP-2 in DNA repair in breast cancer cells

Supervisor: Perks, C. (Supervisor), Holly, J. (Supervisor) & Biernacka, K. M. (Supervisor)

Assessing the feasibility of dietary restriction, including short-term fasting, at the time of chemotherapy

Supervisor: Atkinson, C. (Supervisor), Herbert, G. (Supervisor), Ness, A. (Supervisor) & Perks, C. (Supervisor)

A study of hyperspectral reflectance and fluorescence imaging as alternative Methods for assessing coral health

Supervisor: Day, J. (Supervisor) & Scott, T. (Supervisor)

Biological and lifestyle predictors of survival in head and neck cancer.

Supervisor: Dos Santos Ferreira, D. (Supervisor), Ingle, S. (Supervisor), Ness, A. (Supervisor), Martin, R. (Supervisor) & May, M. T. (Supervisor)

Biosynthetic Studies on Kalimantacin Antibiotics

Supervisor: Willis, C. L. (Supervisor) & Crump, M. P. (Supervisor)

Capturing complexity, comorbidity and frailty in people with parkinsonism and understanding their impact

Supervisor: Ben-Shlomo, Y. (Supervisor) & Henderson, E. (Supervisor)

Causal implications of common infections and platelet function on cardiovascular disease

Supervisor: Paternoster, L. (Supervisor), Richmond, R. (Supervisor), Davey Smith, G. (Supervisor) & Poole, A. (Supervisor)

Causal pathways from cognitive ability to Alzheimer's disease

Supervisor: Davies, N. M. (Supervisor), Anderson, E. L. (Supervisor), Howe, L. D. (Supervisor) & Ben-Shlomo, Y. (Supervisor)

Characterisation of Ataxia Telangiectasia Mutated in RPE-1 cells and its role in cellular sensitivity to hypo-osmotic stress

Supervisor: Mellor, H. H. (Supervisor) & Wood, W. J. (Supervisor)

Characterisation of the cellular compartments containing inhibitory receptors in CD8 + T cells

Supervisor: Wuelfing, C. (Supervisor) & Morgan, D. (Supervisor)

Characterisation of the HELLS and Irc5 subfamily of chromatin remodellers

Supervisor: Dillingham, M. (Supervisor) & Chambers, A. (Supervisor)

Characterising Red Cell-Derived Vesicles in Sickle Cell Disease and Investigating Potential to Induce Tolerance to Human Red Cell Antigens

Supervisor: Blair, A. (Supervisor) & Anstee, D. J. (Supervisor)

Complex trait architecture through the lens of epigenome-wide association studies

Supervisor: Gaunt, T. (Supervisor), Hemani, G. (Supervisor) & Timpson, N. J. (Supervisor)

Decentralised Algorithms for Area Coverage

Supervisor: Ganesh, A. (Supervisor) & Hauert, S. (Supervisor)

Dental care pathways and parent-reported dental outcomes for 5-year-old children born with a cleft in the UK

Supervisor: Fowler, P. V. (Supervisor), Leary, S. D. (Supervisor), Wren, Y. E. (Supervisor) & Williams, J. (Supervisor)

Student thesis : Doctoral Thesis › Doctor of Dental Surgery (DDS)

Diabetes mellitus causes adiposopathy in bone marrow: investigation of the underpinning cellular and molecular mechanisms

Supervisor: Madeddu, P. (Supervisor) & Mellor, H. H. (Supervisor)

Does the association between later eating rhythm and childhood adiposity differ between the UK and China?

Supervisor: Leary, S. D. (Supervisor) & Northstone, K. (Supervisor)

Does the IGF axis influence EMT to play a role in bladder cancer progression?

Supervisor: Perks, C. (Supervisor) & Holly, J. M. P. (Supervisor)

Elucidating mechanisms of tumour resistance to checkpoint blockade

Supervisor: Wooldridge, L. (Supervisor), Morgan, D. (Supervisor) & Wuelfing, C. (Supervisor)

Enhanced numerical techniques for time domain electromagnetic analysis

Evaluation of a primary care epilepsy specialist nurse service.

Supervisor: Bachmann, M. (Supervisor)

Evaluation of Cardiopulmonary Exercise Testing (CPET) as a Prognostic Tool in Idiopathic Pulmonary Fibrosis (IPF)

Supervisor: Maskell, N. (Supervisor) & Millar, A. (Supervisor)

Evolving Morphological Adaption Methods in Compliant Robots

Supervisor: Hauser, H. (Supervisor) & Hauert, S. (Supervisor)

Examining the Role of Placental-derived MicroRNA Secretions in Response to Gestational Hypoxia on Foetal Neurodevelopment

Supervisor: Case, C. P. (Supervisor), Perks, C. M. (Supervisor), Uney, J. B. (Supervisor) & Fulga, T. A. (External person) (Supervisor)

Expertise during surgical innovation: advancing understanding about non-technical skills and related optimisation factors

Supervisor: Mills, N. (Supervisor), Blencowe, N. (Supervisor) & Blazeby, J. (Supervisor)

Exploring the effect of adiposity on platelet function and related pathways: implications for cardiovascular disease

Supervisor: Timpson, N. (Supervisor) & Hers, I. (Supervisor)

Exploring the in vitro behaviour of endothelial cells in different cell culture models

Supervisor: Mellor, H. (Supervisor) & Gaston, K. (Supervisor)

Exploring the microclot-driven pre-metastatic niche: live imaging studies in zebrafish larvae

Supervisor: Martin, P. B. (Supervisor) & Nobes, C. D. (Supervisor)

Exploring the role of BCL-3 in colorectal cancer cell therapeutic resistance

Supervisor: Martin, P. (Supervisor), Cullen, P. (Supervisor) & Williams, A. (Supervisor)

Extra-pulmonary effects of lung function and lung disease

Supervisor: Davey Smith, G. (Supervisor), Dodd, J. (Supervisor) & Granell, R. (Supervisor)

Fatty acid construction within the biosynthesis of the polyketide antibiotic mupirocin

Supervisor: Crump, M. P. (Supervisor), Willis, C. (External person) (Supervisor) & Race, P. R. (Supervisor)

Feeding and Autoimmunity in Children with Down’s Syndrome Evaluation Study (FADES)

Supervisor: Hamilton-Shield, J. P. (Supervisor), Gillespie, K. M. (Supervisor) & Leary, S. D. (Supervisor)

From peptide oligomers to single-chain proteins

Supervisor: Woolfson, D. (Supervisor) & Crump, M. (Supervisor)

Genetic and Environmental Contributions to Trajectories of Depressive Symptoms

Supervisor: Manley, D. (Supervisor), Timpson, N. J. (Supervisor) & Leckie, G. (Supervisor)

Genetic and epidemiologic approaches to elucidate the role of abnormal hip shape in the development of hip osteoarthritis

Supervisor: Davey Smith, G. (Supervisor) & Tobias, J. (Supervisor)

Genetic and epigenetic data as a tool to augment understanding of oropharyngeal cancer

Supervisor: Relton, C. L. (Supervisor), Thomas, S. J. (Supervisor), Richmond, R. C. (Supervisor) & Elliott, H. R. (Supervisor)

Geographical gene-environment interaction and correlation for mental health in the UK and Sweden

Supervisor: Davis, O. S. (Supervisor) & Davey Smith, G. (Supervisor)

Glial autophagy capability and the control of neuroinflammatory signaling in Parkinson’s disease.

Supervisor: Lane, J. D. (Supervisor) & Carroll, B. M. (Supervisor)

'Hi-Fi Nanoscience' : Exploring the nanoscale with optical pickup units

Supervisor: Payton, O. D. (Supervisor) & Day, J. C. C. (Supervisor)

High-throughput proteomic analysis of the dengue virus secretome and the identification of plasma biomarkers of disease severity

Supervisor: Morgan, D. (Supervisor) & Davidson, A. (Supervisor)

Identification of Protein Disulphide-Isomerase A3 Dependent Proteins from the Secretome of MDA-MB-231 Breast Cancer Cells

Supervisor: Adams, J. (Supervisor)

DigitalCommons@UNMC

Home > Eppley Institute > Theses & Dissertations

Theses & Dissertations: Cancer Research

Theses/dissertations from 2024 2024.

Novel Spirocyclic Dimer (SpiD3) Displays Potent Preclinical Effects in Hematological Malignancies , Alexandria Eiken

Therapeutic Effects of BET Protein Inhibition in B-cell Malignancies and Beyond , Audrey L. Smith

Identifying the Molecular Determinants of Lung Metastatic Adaptation in Prostate Cancer , Grace M. Waldron

Identification of Mitotic Phosphatases and Cyclin K as Novel Molecular Targets in Pancreatic Cancer , Yi Xiao

Theses/Dissertations from 2023 2023

Development of Combination Therapy Strategies to Treat Cancer Using Dihydroorotate Dehydrogenase Inhibitors , Nicholas Mullen

Overcoming Resistance Mechanisms to CDK4/6 Inhibitor Treatment Using CDK6-Selective PROTAC , Sarah Truong

Theses/Dissertations from 2022 2022

Omics Analysis in Cancer and Development , Emalie J. Clement

Investigating the Role of Splenic Macrophages in Pancreatic Cancer , Daisy V. Gonzalez

Polymeric Chloroquine in Metastatic Pancreatic Cancer Therapy , Rubayat Islam Khan

Evaluating Targets and Therapeutics for the Treatment of Pancreatic Cancer , Shelby M. Knoche

Characterization of 1,1-Diarylethylene FOXM1 Inhibitors Against High-Grade Serous Ovarian Carcinoma Cells , Cassie Liu

Novel Mechanisms of Protein Kinase C α Regulation and Function , Xinyue Li

SOX2 Dosage Governs Tumor Cell Identity and Proliferation , Ethan P. Metz

Post-Transcriptional Control of the Epithelial-to-Mesenchymal Transition (EMT) in Ras-Driven Colorectal Cancers , Chaitra Rao

Use of Machine Learning Algorithms and Highly Multiplexed Immunohistochemistry to Perform In-Depth Characterization of Primary Pancreatic Tumors and Metastatic Sites , Krysten Vance

Characterization of Metastatic Cutaneous Squamous Cell Carcinoma in the Immunosuppressed Patient , Megan E. Wackel

Visceral adipose tissue remodeling in pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma cachexia: the role of activin A signaling , Pauline Xu

Phos-Tag-Based Screens Identify Novel Therapeutic Targets in Ovarian Cancer and Pancreatic Cancer , Renya Zeng

Theses/Dissertations from 2021 2021

Functional Characterization of Cancer-Associated DNA Polymerase ε Variants , Stephanie R. Barbari

Pancreatic Cancer: Novel Therapy, Research Tools, and Educational Outreach , Ayrianne J. Crawford

Apixaban to Prevent Thrombosis in Adult Patients Treated With Asparaginase , Krishna Gundabolu

Molecular Investigation into the Biologic and Prognostic Elements of Peripheral T-cell Lymphoma with Regulators of Tumor Microenvironment Signaling Explored in Model Systems , Tyler Herek

Utilizing Proteolysis-Targeting Chimeras to Target the Transcriptional Cyclin-Dependent Kinases 9 and 12 , Hannah King

Insights into Cutaneous Squamous Cell Carcinoma Pathogenesis and Metastasis Using a Bedside-to-Bench Approach , Marissa Lobl

Development of a MUC16-Targeted Near-Infrared Antibody Probe for Fluorescence-Guided Surgery of Pancreatic Cancer , Madeline T. Olson

FGFR4 glycosylation and processing in cholangiocarcinoma promote cancer signaling , Andrew J. Phillips

Theses/Dissertations from 2020 2020

Cooperativity of CCNE1 and FOXM1 in High-Grade Serous Ovarian Cancer , Lucy Elge

Characterizing the critical role of metabolic and redox homeostasis in colorectal cancer , Danielle Frodyma

Genomic and Transcriptomic Alterations in Metabolic Regulators and Implications for Anti-tumoral Immune Response , Ryan J. King

Dimers of Isatin Derived Spirocyclic NF-κB Inhibitor Exhibit Potent Anticancer Activity by Inducing UPR Mediated Apoptosis , Smit Kour

From Development to Therapy: A Panoramic Approach to Further Our Understanding of Cancer , Brittany Poelaert

The Cellular Origin and Molecular Drivers of Claudin-Low Mammary Cancer , Patrick D. Raedler

Mitochondrial Metabolism as a Therapeutic Target for Pancreatic Cancer , Simon Shin

Development of Fluorescent Hyaluronic Acid Nanoparticles for Intraoperative Tumor Detection , Nicholas E. Wojtynek

Theses/Dissertations from 2019 2019

The role of E3 ubiquitin ligase FBXO9 in normal and malignant hematopoiesis , R. Willow Hynes-Smith

BRCA1 & CTDP1 BRCT Domainomics in the DNA Damage Response , Kimiko L. Krieger

Targeted Inhibition of Histone Deacetyltransferases for Pancreatic Cancer Therapy , Richard Laschanzky

Human Leukocyte Antigen (HLA) Class I Molecule Components and Amyloid Precursor-Like Protein 2 (APLP2): Roles in Pancreatic Cancer Cell Migration , Bailee Sliker

Theses/Dissertations from 2018 2018

FOXM1 Expression and Contribution to Genomic Instability and Chemoresistance in High-Grade Serous Ovarian Cancer , Carter J. Barger

Overcoming TCF4-Driven BCR Signaling in Diffuse Large B-Cell Lymphoma , Keenan Hartert

Functional Role of Protein Kinase C Alpha in Endometrial Carcinogenesis , Alice Hsu

Functional Signature Ontology-Based Identification and Validation of Novel Therapeutic Targets and Natural Products for the Treatment of Cancer , Beth Neilsen

Elucidating the Roles of Lunatic Fringe in Pancreatic Ductal Adenocarcinoma , Prathamesh Patil

Theses/Dissertations from 2017 2017

Metabolic Reprogramming of Pancreatic Ductal Adenocarcinoma Cells in Response to Chronic Low pH Stress , Jaime Abrego

Understanding the Relationship between TGF-Beta and IGF-1R Signaling in Colorectal Cancer , Katie L. Bailey

The Role of EHD2 in Triple-Negative Breast Cancer Tumorigenesis and Progression , Timothy A. Bielecki

Perturbing anti-apoptotic proteins to develop novel cancer therapies , Jacob Contreras

Role of Ezrin in Colorectal Cancer Cell Survival Regulation , Premila Leiphrakpam

Evaluation of Aminopyrazole Analogs as Cyclin-Dependent Kinase Inhibitors for Colorectal Cancer Therapy , Caroline Robb

Identifying the Role of Janus Kinase 1 in Mammary Gland Development and Breast Cancer , Barbara Swenson

DNMT3A Haploinsufficiency Provokes Hematologic Malignancy of B-Lymphoid, T-Lymphoid, and Myeloid Lineage in Mice , Garland Michael Upchurch

Theses/Dissertations from 2016 2016

EHD1 As a Positive Regulator of Macrophage Colony-Stimulating Factor-1 Receptor , Luke R. Cypher

Inflammation- and Cancer-Associated Neurolymphatic Remodeling and Cachexia in Pancreatic Ductal Adenocarcinoma , Darci M. Fink

Role of CBL-family Ubiquitin Ligases as Critical Negative Regulators of T Cell Activation and Functions , Benjamin Goetz

Exploration into the Functional Impact of MUC1 on the Formation and Regulation of Transcriptional Complexes Containing AP-1 and p53 , Ryan L. Hanson

DNA Polymerase Zeta-Dependent Mutagenesis: Molecular Specificity, Extent of Error-Prone Synthesis, and the Role of dNTP Pools , Olga V. Kochenova

Defining the Role of Phosphorylation and Dephosphorylation in the Regulation of Gap Junction Proteins , Hanjun Li

Molecular Mechanisms Regulating MYC and PGC1β Expression in Colon Cancer , Jamie L. McCall

Pancreatic Cancer Invasion of the Lymphatic Vasculature and Contributions of the Tumor Microenvironment: Roles for E-selectin and CXCR4 , Maria M. Steele

Altered Levels of SOX2, and Its Associated Protein Musashi2, Disrupt Critical Cell Functions in Cancer and Embryonic Stem Cells , Erin L. Wuebben

Theses/Dissertations from 2015 2015

Characterization and target identification of non-toxic IKKβ inhibitors for anticancer therapy , Elizabeth Blowers

Effectors of Ras and KSR1 dependent colon tumorigenesis , Binita Das

Characterization of cancer-associated DNA polymerase delta variants , Tony M. Mertz

A Role for EHD Family Endocytic Regulators in Endothelial Biology , Alexandra E. J. Moffitt

Biochemical pathways regulating mammary epithelial cell homeostasis and differentiation , Chandrani Mukhopadhyay

EPACs: epigenetic regulators that affect cell survival in cancer. , Catherine Murari

Role of the C-terminus of the Catalytic Subunit of Translesion Synthesis Polymerase ζ (Zeta) in UV-induced Mutagensis , Hollie M. Siebler

LGR5 Activates TGFbeta Signaling and Suppresses Metastasis in Colon Cancer , Xiaolin Zhou

LGR5 Activates TGFβ Signaling and Suppresses Metastasis in Colon Cancer , Xiaolin Zhou

Theses/Dissertations from 2014 2014

Genetic dissection of the role of CBL-family ubiquitin ligases and their associated adapters in epidermal growth factor receptor endocytosis , Gulzar Ahmad

Strategies for the identification of chemical probes to study signaling pathways , Jamie Leigh Arnst

Defining the mechanism of signaling through the C-terminus of MUC1 , Roger B. Brown

Targeting telomerase in human pancreatic cancer cells , Katrina Burchett

The identification of KSR1-like molecules in ras-addicted colorectal cancer cells , Drew Gehring

Mechanisms of regulation of AID APOBEC deaminases activity and protection of the genome from promiscuous deamination , Artem Georgievich Lada

Characterization of the DNA-biding properties of human telomeric proteins , Amanda Lakamp-Hawley

Studies on MUC1, p120-catenin, Kaiso: coordinate role of mucins, cell adhesion molecules and cell cycle players in pancreatic cancer , Xiang Liu

Epac interaction with the TGFbeta PKA pathway to regulate cell survival in colon cancer , Meghan Lynn Mendick

Theses/Dissertations from 2013 2013

Deconvolution of the phosphorylation patterns of replication protein A by the DNA damage response to breaks , Kerry D. Brader

Modeling malignant breast cancer occurrence and survival in black and white women , Michael Gleason

The role of dna methyltransferases in myc-induced lymphomagenesis , Ryan A. Hlady

Design and development of inhibitors of CBL (TKB)-protein interactions , Eric A. Kumar

Pancreatic cancer-associated miRNAs : expression, regulation and function , Ashley M. Mohr

Mechanistic studies of mitochondrial outer membrane permeabilization (MOMP) , Xiaming Pang

Novel roles for JAK2/STAT5 signaling in mammary gland development, cancer, and immune dysregulation , Jeffrey Wayne Schmidt

Optimization of therapeutics against lethal pancreatic cancer , Joshua J. Souchek

Theses/Dissertations from 2012 2012

Immune-based novel diagnostic mechanisms for pancreatic cancer , Michael J. Baine

Sox2 associated proteins are essential for cell fate , Jesse Lee Cox

KSR2 regulates cellular proliferation, transformation, and metabolism , Mario R. Fernandez

Discovery of a novel signaling cross-talk between TPX2 and the aurora kinases during mitosis , Jyoti Iyer

Regulation of metabolism by KSR proteins , Paula Jean Klutho

The role of ERK 1/2 signaling in the dna damage-induced G2 , Ryan Kolb

Regulation of the Bcl-2 family network during apoptosis induced by different stimuli , Hernando Lopez

Studies on the role of cullin3 in mitosis , Saili Moghe

Characteristics of amyloid precursor-like protein 2 (APLP2) in pancreatic cancer and Ewing's sarcoma , Haley Louise Capek Peters

Structural and biophysical analysis of a human inosine triphosphate pyrophosphatase polymorphism , Peter David Simone

Functions and regulation of Ron receptor tyrosine kinase in human pancreatic cancer and its therapeutic applications , Yi Zou

Theses/Dissertations from 2011 2011

Coordinate detection of new targets and small molecules for cancer therapy , Kurt Fisher

The role of c-Myc in pancreatic cancer initiation and progression , Wan-Chi Lin

The role of inosine triphosphate pyrophosphatase (ITPA) in maintanence [sic] of genomic stability in human cells , Miriam-Rose Menezes

• Eppley Institute Website
• McGoogan Library

Advanced Search

• Notify me via email or RSS
• Collections
• Disciplines

Author Corner

Home | About | FAQ | My Account | Accessibility Statement

Privacy Copyright

UVA scientists pursue a new approach to treating cancer

This story begins in 2016 when John Herr, director of UVA’s Center for Research in Contraceptive and Reproductive Health, ran a 10K, went home and died of a massive heart attack. His colleagues, surgical oncologist Craig Slingluff, says Herr was on the verge of important discoveries that could someday cure cancer.

“One of the frustrating things is to see patients have advanced cancers that we can’t treat," he says.

While working to develop a vaccine that could protect women from unwanted pregnancy, Herr had discovered a protein found only in human egg cells and in the uterus.

“The tissue that he’d gotten that specimen from was from a uterus that had a cancer in it,” Slingluff recalls.

He explains that the protein was found inside uterine cells but on the surface of cancer cells – which made it a promising target for immunotherapy.

“The notion that these proteins can be attacked with antibodies on cancer but spare the normal cells, even though it’s present in the tissues is really interesting.”

The same protein is found on the surface of tumor cells in people with melanoma, breast, ovarian, pancreatic, lung and kidney cancers. Slingluff and his team hope to begin studies in laboratory animals soon. Their latest findings were published in the Journal for ImmunoTherapy of Cancer.

This report, provided by  Virginia Public Radio , was made possible with support from the  Virginia Education Association .

Materials Advances

A photoarchitectonic hydrogel for synergistic in vitro chemo–phototherapy of breast cancer †.

* Corresponding authors

a Center of Innovative and Applied Bioprocessing (CIAB), Department of Nanomaterials and Application Technology, Department of Biotechnology (DBT), Government of India, Sector 81 (Knowledge City), S.A.S. Nagar, Punjab, India E-mail: [email protected]

b Regional Centre for Biotechnology, Department of Biotechnology (DBT), Government of India, Faridabad 121001, Haryana, India

c National Agri-Food Biotechnology Institute (NABI), Department of Biotechnology (DBT), Government of India, Sector 81 (Knowledge City), S.A.S. Nagar, Punjab, India

d Department of Chemical Sciences, Indian Institute of Science Education and Research, Sector-81 (Knowledge City), S.A.S. Nagar, Mohali, Punjab, India

Currently, combinatorial therapy has evoked interest in cancer treatment, and may promote achieving a synergistic effect using cancer medicines. Laser-assisted and pH-responsive therapies have attracted significant attention, and their combination leads to high efficiency cancer treatment. Herein, we developed a chemo–phototherapeutic hydrogel comprised of doxorubicin (DOX, a chemotherapeutic drug) and zinc phthalocyanine (ZnPc, a phototherapeutic drug) for combinatorial and synergistic treatment of breast cancer. Firstly, we have developed carbon dots (CDs, size of ∼5 nm) utilizing lignin and folic acid as biocompatible sources. Then doxorubicin was loaded on the surface of the carbon dots via conjugation (DOX@CDs). Later on, zinc phthalocyanine and acrylic acid derivatives were utilized to develop a laser-responsive hydrogel (ZnPc-PP H). Afterward, doxorubicin-conjugated carbon dots were incorporated into the photoarchitectonic hydrogel to develop a chemo–phototherapeutic drug-loaded hydrogel (DOX@CDs–ZnPc-PP H). Subsequently, the in vitro pH-triggering experiments demonstrated that the hydrogel loaded with both DOX and ZnPc could release the drugs in an acidic environment. Interestingly, in vitro assays confirmed that DOX@CDs–ZnPc-PP H could effectively target breast cancer cells (MCF-7). Furthermore, the developed chemo–phototherapeutic hydrogel exhibited non-cytotoxic behavior. Owing to laser assisted reactive oxygen species generation from ZnPc present in the hydrogel, the growth of MCF-7 cells was significantly lowered. In conclusion, all experimental outcomes indicate that the photoarchitectonic hydrogel has the potential to be applied in synergistic chemo- and photodynamic therapy of cancer.

Supplementary files

• Supplementary information PDF (1979K)

Article information

Download Citation

Permissions.

A photoarchitectonic hydrogel for synergistic in vitro chemo–phototherapy of breast cancer

S. Paul, B. Yadav, M. D. Patil, A. K. Pujari, U. Singh, V. Rishi and J. Bhaumik, Mater. Adv. , 2024,  5 , 1903 DOI: 10.1039/D3MA00900A

This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 3.0 Unported Licence . You can use material from this article in other publications, without requesting further permission from the RSC, provided that the correct acknowledgement is given and it is not used for commercial purposes.

To request permission to reproduce material from this article in a commercial publication , please go to the Copyright Clearance Center request page .

If you are an author contributing to an RSC publication, you do not need to request permission provided correct acknowledgement is given.

If you are the author of this article, you do not need to request permission to reproduce figures and diagrams provided correct acknowledgement is given. If you want to reproduce the whole article in a third-party commercial publication (excluding your thesis/dissertation for which permission is not required) please go to the Copyright Clearance Center request page .

Read more about how to correctly acknowledge RSC content .

Social activity

Search articles by author, advertisements.

• Share full article

Advertisement

Supported by

Kris Hallenga, Who Urged Early Breast Cancer Screenings, Dies at 38

After being diagnosed when she was 23, she became determined to educate other young people about early detection.

By Remy Tumin

When Kris Hallenga was diagnosed with stage four breast cancer at 23, questions swirled in her head: “Why didn’t anyone tell me to check my boobs? Why didn’t I know I could get breast cancer at 23?”

If she hadn’t known that she could get breast cancer so young, there was a very good chance that others were equally uninformed, she said in a 2021 interview with The Guardian. She spent the next 15 years educating young people about early detection through her nonprofit organization, CoppaFeel, and in a 2021 memoir, “Glittering a Turd.”

On Monday, a spokesman for CoppaFeel said Ms. Hallenga had died of breast cancer at her home in Cornwall, England. She was 38.

“Survival was never enough,” she said during a publicity tour in 2021. “I don’t just want to survive; I want to be able to really look at my life and go, ‘I’m glad to still be here, and I’m getting the most of what I want from life.’”

Kristen Hallenga was born on Nov. 11, 1985, in Norden, a small town in northern Germany, to a German father and an English mother, both of whom were teachers. When she was 9, she moved to Daventry in central England with her mother, Jane Hallenga; her twin sister, Maren; and their older sister Maike, all three of whom survive her. Her father, Reiner Hallenga, died of a heart attack when she was 20.

Ms. Hallenga first felt a lump in 2009, when she was in Beijing working for a travel company and teaching on the side. During a visit back home to the Midlands, Ms. Hallenga went to her internist, who attributed the lump to hormonal changes associated with her birth control pill, she told The Guardian.

But the lump grew more painful, and a bloody discharge developed. Another internist gave her a diagnosis similar to the first, tying her condition again to hormones and the pill. But because she didn’t know what would be considered normal, Ms. Hallenga didn’t have anything to judge by.

“I wasn’t touching my boobs at all,” she said. “I didn’t know anything about them.”

But her mother, whose own mother had breast cancer at an early age, insisted that Ms. Hallenga obtain a referral to a breast clinic. By the time she was diagnosed, eight months after finding the lump, the prognosis was terminal. The cancer had also spread to her spine.

After an aggressive round of chemotherapy, a mastectomy and hormone therapy, tests in 2011 revealed that the cancer had spread to her liver, she told The Huffington Post . A year later, doctors found that the cancer had spread to her brain. She underwent radiotherapy to remove a tumor.

But she continued to work through her illness. She wrote about her cancer diagnosis and her advocacy work in a column for her local newspaper, The Northampton Chronicle and Echo, and The Sun. But it was her work with CoppaFeel that reached her target audience: young people.

The organization has sent thousands of reminders about breast self-exams by text message; organized a group of women known as the Boobettes, who go into schools to talk about their experience with breast cancer at a young age; helped add cancer awareness to the education curriculum in Britain; and aired what was believed to be the first nipple in a daytime television commercial , which encouraged people to get to know their chests.

All of it was done in the hope that others could avoid a diagnosis like Ms. Hallenga’s.

“Cancer so often comes with a package of terms — survivor, thriver, warrior — and it’s great if someone wants to hang their existence on those words, if it helps them get through the day — if it helps them get perspective, great,” Ms. Hallenga said when her memoir was released . “But for me, I couldn’t really resonate with those words, ever. Because I say, unless I’m happy being alive, then what is the point in surviving?”

She stepped down as chief executive of CoppaFeel in 2017 and moved to Cornwall to spend more time with her sister Maren. Last June, she threw herself a living funeral at the Truro Cathedral in Cornwall. The dress code was YODO — you only die once. Dawn French, who played a village priest in the BBC sitcom “The Vicar of Dibley,” led the celebration of life .

“I’ve never felt love like it,” Ms. Hallenga wrote on Instagram after the event. “I’ve never felt joy like it. I’ve never felt such kinship with mortality. I’ve never felt so alive.”

Remy Tumin is a reporter for The Times covering breaking news and other topics. More about Remy Tumin