At North Carolina Central University’s Biomanufacturing Research Institute and Technology Enterprise, a dedicated team of researchers is making significant strides in drug discovery for two rare and aggressive forms of breast cancer. This innovative work seeks to enhance treatment options where conventional therapies often fall short.

Breast cancer impacts one in eight women in the United States. There is a diverse range of types and treatments available, including chemotherapy, radiation, surgery, and immunotherapy. However, standard chemotherapy can be harsh, often damaging healthy cells alongside cancerous ones, leading experts like Professor Kevin Williams, Ph.D., to advocate for alternative approaches. “For rare forms of cancer, there may be few treatment options and chances are that big pharmaceutical companies may not be working on it,” Williams explained.

Inflammatory Breast Cancer

Williams is concentrating his efforts on IBC, which comprises only 1% to 5% of all breast cancer cases but is one of its deadliest variants. Sadly, it carries a mere 40% survival rate over five years. IBC symptoms can mimic those of a skin rash, complicating timely and accurate detection. “If it gets missed or misdiagnosed, it progresses rapidly,” Williams cautioned. A biopsy is necessary for definitive diagnosis.

Triple Negative Breast Cancer

In parallel, Associate Professor John Scott, Ph.D., is exploring drug repurposing for TNBC. TNBC accounts for 10% to 15% of all breast cancer cases and disproportionately affects young African American women. TNBC uniquely lacks the biological markers targeted by existing breast cancer drugs, complicating treatment strategies. Scott’s approach involves utilizing FDA-approved drugs initially intended for other medical conditions.

At BRITE, the search for suitable drugs begins with high-throughput screening from a repository of 150,000 compounds, including many already approved for clinical use. “If you are now looking for new drugs for IBC, maybe the answer is already in the literature,” Williams said, highlighting the process of text mining—analyzing existing research to identify potential new applications for known drugs. 

So far, this method has yielded approximately 20 promising candidates that are being tested in laboratory settings. This process starts with in vitro experiments before progressing to animal models.