Male breast cancer diagnosis fuels groundbreaking treatment tool

Breast cancer rates for men are much lower than women, the American Cancer Society (ACS) estimates that in 2023, about 2,800 men in the United States will be diagnosed with breast cancer and 530 men will die from the disease. Many are diagnosed when the disease has progressed to later stages because it is so rare. Most patients who have metastatic cancer receive palliative care, which does not attempt to cure the disease, but instead focuses on providing relief from the symptoms.

Doctors diagnosed Christopher Gregg, Ph.D., member of the Nuclear Control of Cell Growth and Differentiation Program at Huntsman Cancer Institute at the University of Utah (the U) and neuroscientist and professor of neurobiology and human genetics at the U, with stage 4 metastatic breast cancer in 2018. At that point, he started thinking of ways to improve his treatment.

“The core problem of metastatic cancer is it evolves,” says Gregg. “There may be a treatment that works today but eventually the disease will become resistant over time.” He sought to solve this with a groundbreaking approach called extinction therapy.