Building a large blood biobank of patients with new breast cancer diagnosis for future research

This project supports the further development of a unique breast cancer blood bank (initiated in 2003), containing blood samples collected at different time points from breast cancer patients treated at the Multidisciplinary Breast Center in UZ Leuven. The samples are used for scientific research, in order to gain better insights in the disease itself as well as in the response of the body to different breast cancer treatments. There is a high need for additional and reliable (blood) biomarkers that could help identifying patients who will benefit from a given treatment, and on the other hand patients who are at high risk of developing serious adverse effects as a result of the treatment and/or whose tumors are not responsive to the therapy. Such breast cancer biomarker research could also reveal new therapeutic targets for the development of new drugs.