Dr Deborah Holliday - now based at the Department of Pathology and Tumour Biology, Leeds Institute of Molecular Medicine - and colleagues from Queen Mary’s, University of London won the National Centre for the Replacement, Refinement and Reduction of Animals in Research (NC3Rs) prize for constructing a multi-cellular 3-D model of ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS).

Dr Holliday said: “This is an exciting development in both breast cancer research and the replacement of animals so I am thrilled at the award. Understanding how individual cell populations contribute to cancer progression is essential in increasing our understanding of breast cancer and identifying new targets for therapy. Being able to model this in a complex human 3-D culture model provides us with a valuable tool to investigate this without the use of animal experiments.”

The 3-D replacement model accurately replicates what happens at a cellular level in normal and malignant human breast. Containing all the different cell types present in breast tissue, it is physiologically relevant and capable of complex, functional studies including the identification and screening of novel therapeutic targets.

The highly complex model of a pre-invasive lesion - the main precursor to breast cancer and one which accounts for 20% of all breast cancer - uses human cells from cancerous and healthy breast tissue donated by volunteers. It  is set to help replace experiments using up to 400 mice per test typically involving implanting tumours, abdominal drug injections and serial 'harvesting' of tumours.

“Winning the NC3Rs prize is an important recognition of the quality of non-animal replacement methods, and the scientific and ethical benefits of replacing animals in medical research.” said Wendy Higgins of the Dr Hadwen Trust for Humane Research who funded the research. “Supporting groundbreaking non-animal medical research like this is vitally important because eliminating human and animal suffering is a goal that benefits us all.”