NZ Herald
  • Home
  • Latest news
  • Video
  • New Zealand
  • Sport
  • World
  • Business
  • Entertainment
  • Podcasts
  • Quizzes
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
  • Travel
  • Viva
  • Weather forecasts

Subscriptions

  • Herald Premium
  • Viva Premium
  • The Listener
  • BusinessDesk

Sections

  • Latest news
  • New Zealand
    • All New Zealand
    • Crime
    • Politics
    • Education
    • Open Justice
    • Scam Update
  • Budget 2025
  • On The Up
  • World
    • All World
    • Australia
    • Asia
    • UK
    • United States
    • Middle East
    • Europe
    • Pacific
  • Business
    • All Business
    • MarketsSharesCurrencyCommoditiesStock TakesCrypto
    • Markets with Madison
    • Media Insider
    • Business analysis
    • Personal financeKiwiSaverInterest ratesTaxInvestment
    • EconomyInflationGDPOfficial cash rateEmployment
    • Small business
    • Business reportsMood of the BoardroomProject AucklandSustainable business and financeCapital markets reportAgribusiness reportInfrastructure reportDynamic business
    • Deloitte Top 200 Awards
    • CompaniesAged CareAgribusinessAirlinesBanking and financeConstructionEnergyFreight and logisticsHealthcareManufacturingMedia and MarketingRetailTelecommunicationsTourism
  • Opinion
    • All Opinion
    • Analysis
    • Editorials
    • Business analysis
    • Premium opinion
    • Letters to the editor
  • Sport
    • All Sport
    • OlympicsParalympics
    • RugbySuper RugbyNPCAll BlacksBlack FernsRugby sevensSchool rugby
    • CricketBlack CapsWhite Ferns
    • Racing
    • NetballSilver Ferns
    • LeagueWarriorsNRL
    • FootballWellington PhoenixAuckland FCAll WhitesFootball FernsEnglish Premier League
    • GolfNZ Open
    • MotorsportFormula 1
    • Boxing
    • UFC
    • BasketballNBABreakersTall BlacksTall Ferns
    • Tennis
    • Cycling
    • Athletics
    • SailingAmerica's CupSailGP
    • Rowing
  • Lifestyle
    • All Lifestyle
    • Viva - Food, fashion & beauty
    • Society Insider
    • Royals
    • Sex & relationships
    • Food & drinkRecipesRecipe collectionsRestaurant reviewsRestaurant bookings
    • Health & wellbeing
    • Fashion & beauty
    • Pets & animals
    • The Selection - Shop the trendsShop fashionShop beautyShop entertainmentShop giftsShop home & living
    • Milford's Investing Place
  • Entertainment
    • All Entertainment
    • TV
    • MoviesMovie reviews
    • MusicMusic reviews
    • BooksBook reviews
    • Culture
    • ReviewsBook reviewsMovie reviewsMusic reviewsRestaurant reviews
  • Travel
    • All Travel
    • News
    • New ZealandNorthlandAucklandWellingtonCanterburyOtago / QueenstownNelson-TasmanBest NZ beaches
    • International travelAustraliaPacific IslandsEuropeUKUSAAfricaAsia
    • Rail holidays
    • Cruise holidays
    • Ski holidays
    • Luxury travel
    • Adventure travel
  • Kāhu Māori news
  • Environment
    • All Environment
    • Our Green Future
  • Talanoa Pacific news
  • Property
    • All Property
    • Property Insider
    • Interest rates tracker
    • Residential property listings
    • Commercial property listings
  • Health
  • Technology
    • All Technology
    • AI
    • Social media
  • Rural
    • All Rural
    • Dairy farming
    • Sheep & beef farming
    • Horticulture
    • Animal health
    • Rural business
    • Rural life
    • Rural technology
    • Opinion
    • Audio & podcasts
  • Weather forecasts
    • All Weather forecasts
    • Kaitaia
    • Whangārei
    • Dargaville
    • Auckland
    • Thames
    • Tauranga
    • Hamilton
    • Whakatāne
    • Rotorua
    • Tokoroa
    • Te Kuiti
    • Taumaranui
    • Taupō
    • Gisborne
    • New Plymouth
    • Napier
    • Hastings
    • Dannevirke
    • Whanganui
    • Palmerston North
    • Levin
    • Paraparaumu
    • Masterton
    • Wellington
    • Motueka
    • Nelson
    • Blenheim
    • Westport
    • Reefton
    • Kaikōura
    • Greymouth
    • Hokitika
    • Christchurch
    • Ashburton
    • Timaru
    • Wānaka
    • Oamaru
    • Queenstown
    • Dunedin
    • Gore
    • Invercargill
  • Meet the journalists
  • Promotions & competitions
  • OneRoof property listings
  • Driven car news

Puzzles & Quizzes

  • Puzzles
    • All Puzzles
    • Sudoku
    • Code Cracker
    • Crosswords
    • Cryptic crossword
    • Wordsearch
  • Quizzes
    • All Quizzes
    • Morning quiz
    • Afternoon quiz
    • Sports quiz

Regions

  • Northland
    • All Northland
    • Far North
    • Kaitaia
    • Kerikeri
    • Kaikohe
    • Bay of Islands
    • Whangarei
    • Dargaville
    • Kaipara
    • Mangawhai
  • Auckland
  • Waikato
    • All Waikato
    • Hamilton
    • Coromandel & Hauraki
    • Matamata & Piako
    • Cambridge
    • Te Awamutu
    • Tokoroa & South Waikato
    • Taupō & Tūrangi
  • Bay of Plenty
    • All Bay of Plenty
    • Katikati
    • Tauranga
    • Mount Maunganui
    • Pāpāmoa
    • Te Puke
    • Whakatāne
  • Rotorua
  • Hawke's Bay
    • All Hawke's Bay
    • Napier
    • Hastings
    • Havelock North
    • Central Hawke's Bay
    • Wairoa
  • Taranaki
    • All Taranaki
    • Stratford
    • New Plymouth
    • Hāwera
  • Manawatū - Whanganui
    • All Manawatū - Whanganui
    • Whanganui
    • Palmerston North
    • Manawatū
    • Tararua
    • Horowhenua
  • Wellington
    • All Wellington
    • Kapiti
    • Wairarapa
    • Upper Hutt
    • Lower Hutt
  • Nelson & Tasman
    • All Nelson & Tasman
    • Motueka
    • Nelson
    • Tasman
  • Marlborough
  • West Coast
  • Canterbury
    • All Canterbury
    • Kaikōura
    • Christchurch
    • Ashburton
    • Timaru
  • Otago
    • All Otago
    • Oamaru
    • Dunedin
    • Balclutha
    • Alexandra
    • Queenstown
    • Wanaka
  • Southland
    • All Southland
    • Invercargill
    • Gore
    • Stewart Island
  • Gisborne

Media

  • Video
    • All Video
    • NZ news video
    • Business news video
    • Politics news video
    • Sport video
    • World news video
    • Lifestyle video
    • Entertainment video
    • Travel video
    • Markets with Madison
    • Kea Kids news
  • Podcasts
    • All Podcasts
    • The Front Page
    • On the Tiles
    • Ask me Anything
    • The Little Things
    • Cooking the Books
  • Cartoons
  • Photo galleries
  • Today's Paper - E-editions
  • Photo sales
  • Classifieds

NZME Network

  • Advertise with NZME
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • BusinessDesk
  • Newstalk ZB
  • What the Actual
  • Sunlive
  • ZM
  • The Hits
  • Coast
  • Radio Hauraki
  • The Alternative Commentary Collective
  • Gold
  • Flava
  • iHeart Radio
  • Hokonui
  • Radio Wanaka
  • iHeartCountry New Zealand
  • Restaurant Hub
  • NZME Events

SubscribeSign In
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Home / Lifestyle

Breast cancer breakthrough

Jamie Morton
By Jamie Morton
Multimedia Journalist·NZ Herald·
30 Jan, 2014 04:30 PM3 mins to read

Subscribe to listen

Access to Herald Premium articles require a Premium subscription. Subscribe now to listen.
Already a subscriber?  Sign in here

Listening to articles is free for open-access content—explore other articles or learn more about text-to-speech.
‌
Save

    Share this article

A new, high-tech approach using nano-medicine could prove safer, cheaper and ultimately more effective. Stock Image / Thinkstock

A new, high-tech approach using nano-medicine could prove safer, cheaper and ultimately more effective. Stock Image / Thinkstock

Otago researchers optimistic about treatment for especially aggressive form of disease

Researchers are encouraged by the early findings of a major New Zealand study to find a better way to treat an aggressive form of breast cancer.

Triple negative breast cancer, or TNBC, accounts for around 15 to 20 per cent of breast cancer diagnoses in New Zealand and particularly affects younger women.

Drugs used in chemotherapy to treat the cancer kill rapidly dividing cells where the cancer cells are found.

But these also kill the cells that line the gastrointestinal tract, as well as hair cells, leaving patients suffering from sickness and hair loss.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Avoiding these side-effects could be just one benefit of a new, high-tech approach using nano-medicine that zeroes in on the cancer cells.

The treatment, being investigated by Otago University researchers and funded by the New Zealand Breast Cancer Foundation could also prove safer, cheaper and ultimately more effective.

Study leader and toxicologist Associate Professor Rhonda Rosengren and her team are targeting hormone-resistant cancers such as TNBC, named for its tumours' lack of the three hormone receptors that fuel most breast cancers - estrogen, progesterone and HER2.

The researchers hope to create a low-cost nano-medicine based on RL-71, a powerful new chemotherapeutic agent developed by Associate Professor Rosengren's team.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

This would be applied directly to the cancer cells through a new delivery platform, co-patented by study collaborator Dr Khaled Greish.

Associate Professor Rosengren hoped the research would eventuate in a drug costing less than $100 a dose.

An early tumour suppression test carried out on mice had promising results, but more animal tests are needed to measure the drug against metastasis - the spread of cancer.

"People who die from cancer die from the spread of the disease, so we still need to test this in a spread model," the professor said.

Discover more

Lifestyle

Mastectomy photos 'objectionable'

20 Nov 10:05 PM
New Zealand

More women drinking dangerously

29 Nov 04:30 PM
Lifestyle

Global cancer cases on the rise

12 Dec 09:25 PM
Lifestyle

Should cancer patients describe their illness as a battle?

15 Jan 10:15 PM

While the research was still in pre-clinical stages, it was hoped clinical trials in women could be held within two to three years.

Associate Professor Rosengren described the project as the most exciting she had worked on.

"I think we are on the uphill slope, but I think this stuff has the potential to turn into something worthwhile."

New Zealand Breast Cancer Foundation spokeswoman Adele Gautier said that while TNBC was a focus for many researchers internationally, her organisation was still looking for a breakthrough that would make a widespread difference.

"The study caught our attention with its novel delivery mechanism and low toxicity," Ms Gautier said.

"The focus on affordable treatment is a real plus when public health systems like ours are juggling increasing demand for new drugs within finite budgets."

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Triple negative breast cancer (TNBC)

• The three most common types of receptors known to fuel most breast cancer growth - estrogen, progesterone, and the HER-2/neu gene - are not present in the cancer tumour.

• Therefore common treatments such as hormone therapy and drugs that target those receptors are ineffective, but chemotherapy is still considered an effective response.

• TNBC makes up between 15 and 20 per cent of breast cancers diagnosed in New Zealand.

The study

• Otago University researchers have developed a drug, RL-71, which is a synthetic derivative of curcumin.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

• The medicine would be applied to the cancer cells through a new delivery platform, called styrene maleic acid (SMA) micelles.

• The SMAs encapsulate the drug and selectively deliver it to the tumour.

Save

    Share this article

Latest from Lifestyle

Premium
Lifestyle

Jalapeño wine delights TikTok but confuses bartenders

23 May 06:00 AM
Lifestyle

Cancer survivor's top tips for people going through health difficulties

23 May 04:00 AM
Premium
Lifestyle

How to give new life to overlooked kitchen leftovers

23 May 12:00 AM

Sponsored: How much is too much?

sponsored
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Latest from Lifestyle

Premium
Jalapeño wine delights TikTok but confuses bartenders

Jalapeño wine delights TikTok but confuses bartenders

23 May 06:00 AM

New York Times: Likened to spicy margaritas, jalapeño wine is having a moment.

Cancer survivor's top tips for people going through health difficulties

Cancer survivor's top tips for people going through health difficulties

23 May 04:00 AM
Premium
How to give new life to overlooked kitchen leftovers

How to give new life to overlooked kitchen leftovers

23 May 12:00 AM
Premium
Why your child is a picky eater - and what parents can do about it

Why your child is a picky eater - and what parents can do about it

22 May 09:35 PM
Sponsored: Cosy up to colour all year
sponsored

Sponsored: Cosy up to colour all year

NZ Herald
  • About NZ Herald
  • Meet the journalists
  • Newsletters
  • Classifieds
  • Help & support
  • Contact us
  • House rules
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of use
  • Competition terms & conditions
  • Our use of AI
Subscriber Services
  • NZ Herald e-editions
  • Daily puzzles & quizzes
  • Manage your digital subscription
  • Manage your print subscription
  • Subscribe to the NZ Herald newspaper
  • Subscribe to Herald Premium
  • Gift a subscription
  • Subscriber FAQs
  • Subscription terms & conditions
  • Promotions and subscriber benefits
NZME Network
  • The New Zealand Herald
  • The Northland Age
  • The Northern Advocate
  • Waikato Herald
  • Bay of Plenty Times
  • Rotorua Daily Post
  • Hawke's Bay Today
  • Whanganui Chronicle
  • Viva
  • NZ Listener
  • What the Actual
  • Newstalk ZB
  • BusinessDesk
  • OneRoof
  • Driven CarGuide
  • iHeart Radio
  • Restaurant Hub
NZME
  • About NZME
  • NZME careers
  • Advertise with NZME
  • Digital self-service advertising
  • Book your classified ad
  • Photo sales
  • NZME Events
  • © Copyright 2025 NZME Publishing Limited
TOP