Theranostic Peptide Tracers for Breast Cancer

ongoing

Breast cancer impacts one in eight women globally, resulting in over half a million deaths each year. Current diagnostic methods fall short, with ~40% of breast cancers having already spread at the time of diagnosis and mammography often producing high rates of false positives. Additionally, there is a lack of reliable tools for monitoring treatment responses, tracking recurrences, or providing real-time tumour visualisation to aid surgical tumour removal. This project addresses these challenges by developing theranostic peptide tracers targeting the oxytocin receptor (OTR), a promising new target for imaging, diagnosis and treatment of breast cancer. OTR is highly overexpressed in primary breast cancers, including metastatic and triple-negative cases, which remain difficult to treat. Our team has successfully developed potent, OTR-specific peptide tracers capable of visualising OTR in cells and tissues. Building on this progress, the project will refine and expand the design of these tracers and provide proof-of-concept data that they can be used to efficiently visualise and remove breast tumours. Expected outcomes include theranostic tracers that can enhance breast tumour detection, support breast-conserving surgical tumour removal, and targeted radiotherapy, including subtypes that currently do not have targeted approaches. This combined approach of improved detection and targeted therapy has the scope to considerably enhance patient care, treatment options, and survival rates while reducing healthcare costs. The development of these tracers, supported by preclinical data and intellectual property protection, is expected to attract further investments and foster industry partnerships to accelerate clinical translation.