Peter Mac awarded $2.3 million for three game-changing NBCF grants
12 May 2025
The National Breast Cancer Foundation (NBCF) has awarded Peter Mac three grants valued at a combined $2.3 million to investigate the next generation of breast cancer treatments.
Associate Professors Paul Beavis, Kara Britt, and Dr Ajithkumar Vasanthakumar will lead these funded initiatives under the NBCF’s Research Program. This program backs studies focused on achieving the ultimate goal of eliminating breast cancer deaths.
This year alone, it is estimated that over 20,000 Australians will be diagnosed with breast cancer and nine people will lose their lives to this disease every day.
Peter Mac Executive Director Cancer Research, Professor Ricky Johnstone, said it was a pleasing outcome for Peter Mac to have three innovative and crucial projects funded by NBCF.
“It’s exciting to see three innovative and essential projects from Peter Mac receive NBCF support,” he said.
“Breast cancer is the second most commonly diagnosed cancer in Australia and continues to be the most prevalent cancer in women here.
“We are grateful to the NBCF for their trust in our researchers and look forward to discovering new ways to treat this widespread disease.”
Read more on each project below.
Associate Professor Paul Beavis
Improving the effectiveness of immune-based therapy of breast cancer by increasing the movement of immune cells into the tumour
Immunotherapy, a treatment that harnesses the body’s immune system to fight cancer, has transformed outcomes for some cancers over the past 15 years. In diseases like melanoma, it has extended survival from just months to over a decade in some patients. Researchers are now exploring its potential in breast cancer, especially in triple negative breast cancer (TNBC), a particularly aggressive form with limited treatment options. Clinical trials have shown promising results, with many TNBC patients responding well to immunotherapy. However, not all patients benefit.
A key reason for this variation is the ability of immune cells to reach the tumour. In clinical trials, tumours with high immune cell presence had much better response rates. To improve outcomes, researchers aim to boost the tumour’s ability to attract immune cells. Two proteins, CXCL9 and CXCL10, help guide immune cells to tumours and are linked to better survival. However, these proteins are often found at low levels in TNBC.
This project, led by Associate Professor Beavis and supported by experts including Professor Sherene Loi, will investigate ways to increase CXCL9 and CXCL10 levels to enhance the effectiveness of existing immunotherapy treatments in breast cancer.
Associate Professor Kara Britt
A focus on understanding wound repair in the breast could be the key to a novel and well tolerated breast cancer (BCa) preventative
Among the recognised risk factors for breast cancer, a strong association has been observed between delayed childbirth or not having children at all. Previous research by Associate Professor Britt and the team found that in the breast of women who had never had children had changes in their fibroblasts of a certain protease normally only known to have a role in the blood. The levels of this protein were higher in the breast tissue of those women that had given birth.
In addition, lower levels of this protein were linked to poorer outcomes. The protein does not have any known roles in the breast or in cancer development but is well known for its role in controlling processes involved with repairing wounds. Tumours have often been referred to as wounds that never heal. Hence, regulating the levels of this protease could serve as a preventative therapy for women at increased risk of breast cancer.
With this NBCF-funded support the team will collect samples from normal, early stage and invasive breast cancer from women having surgery and assess how this protease is working. Drugs that currently impact the levels of the protease are already used safely in people for blood disorders. Hence, breast cancer laboratory models will be used to evaluate if this drug or related drugs have the potential to be repurposed as a precision breast cancer precision therapy or preventative treatment for breast cancer.
Dr Ajithkumar Vasanthakumar
Understanding how immune cells provide pregnancy induced breast cancer protection
Dr Vasanthakumar’s project also aims to provide answers on how pregnancy provides protection from breast cancer. It will investigate at what stage during pregnancy or breastfeeding TRM cells are formed, and what signals cause their development. The goal is to recreate these conditions in non-pregnant models to safely stimulate the production of TRM cells, offering a new way to protect against breast cancer.
This research is especially important today, as many women are delaying or choosing not to have children, which increases their risk of breast cancer. By uncovering how the immune system naturally protects the breast during pregnancy, scientists hope to develop new strategies to prevent breast cancer in all women—regardless of whether they have children. This could lead to significant advances in breast cancer prevention and improve health outcomes for future generations.