ALEXANDRIA, Virginia—Twisted Pink’s “Metastatic Breast Cancer Impact Award,” powered by Conquer Cancer’s EveryGrant®, has awarded a grant to Hanna Irie, MD, PhD, for her work studying a novel therapeutic approach targeting brain metastases in patients with triple negative breast cancer. 

This two-year, $200,000 award supports hypothesis-driven research projects in either basic, translational or clinical metastatic breast cancer (MBC) research. It places particular emphasis on studies with the greatest potential impact to advance MBC treatments and reduce patient mortality.  

Since 2015, Twisted Pink has been funding research to advance science and provide new treatment options for people living with MBC. “Although metastatic (Stage 4) breast cancer is not curable, it is usually treatable,” said Caroline Johnson, founder and executive director of Twisted Pink. “Current advances in research and medicines mean that more and more women are living longer by managing the disease. With excellent care and support, MBC may respond to a number of treatment options that can extend life for several years.” 

Dr. Irie is an associate professor of medicine and oncological sciences at the Tisch Cancer Institute and Dubin Breast Center of Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai. Since 2011, she has maintained an active clinical practice as a breast medical oncologist specifically focused on high-risk cancers like TNBC. 

At Mount Sinai’s Dubin Breast Center, she’s led translational research efforts, including the creation of the Breast Tumor Bank and patient-derived models of aggressive breast cancers, which have been utilized in multiple collaborations. Her research program focuses on identifying novel, targeted therapeutics for individual patients, and specific breast cancer subtypes.  

Dr. Irie's team has partnered with chemical biologists to develop first-in-class targeted compounds aimed at drug-resistant breast cancers with the goal of optimizing them for patient treatment. She is particularly interested in processes that regulate metastatic behavior of cancer cells, specifically epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) and cancer stem cell (CSC) properties.  

Triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) does not have the same receptors as most other breast cancers. It’s an aggressive disease with a high rate of recurrence. TNBC is most often associated with visceral metastases including lung, liver and brain. Despite multi-modality approaches, the prognosis for patients remains poor because of treatment resistance. 

Dr. Irie’s project focuses on a new compound that targets CSCs with promising activity against TNBC metastases. “The proposed study will test the multi-kinase inhibitor molecule 108600 for efficacy against brain metastases created in mouse models and against cells derived from patient brain metastases. These studies could lead to a new treatment option for patients with TNBC brain metastases,” Dr. Irie said. “This research is significant, as it could lead to dramatic improvements in TNBC patient outcomes.”  

This grant is funded by Twisted Pink. It’s implemented and administered through EveryGrant, powered by Conquer Cancer.