CDK4/6 drugs plus radiation for locally advanced ER-positive and triple-negative breast cancer
Official title: Project 3: Credentialing CDK 4/6 inhibitors used with radiation as an effective treatment strategy in locally advanced ER+ and TNBC
Funded at University of Michigan at Ann Arbor · NIH-11180419 · Data updated 2026-11-12
This project tests whether adding CDK4/6 drugs to radiation helps women with locally advanced ER-positive or triple-negative breast cancer reduce the chance the cancer comes back.
Quick facts
| Grant type | NIH-funded research |
|---|---|
| Study type | NIH-funded research |
| Funding institution | University of Michigan at Ann Arbor NIH-funded |
| Lab location | 1 site (Ann Arbor, United States) |
| Project start | August 14, 2023 |
| Project end | July 31, 2028 |
| Funding year | 2025 |
| Award (this year) | $261,036 |
| NIH project number | 5P50CA269022-03 |
| Project ID | NIH-11180419 on NIH RePORTER |
Who could benefit from this research
✓Could help
Ideal candidates are women with locally advanced breast cancer—especially ER-positive cancers with multiple positive lymph nodes or triple-negative breast cancer—who are receiving or planned to receive radiation therapy.
✕Less likely to help
Patients with early-stage, node-negative breast cancer, cancers other than ER-positive or triple-negative, or those unable to take CDK4/6 inhibitors are unlikely to benefit from this work.
What this research studies
Researchers are studying whether drugs called CDK4/6 inhibitors can make radiation therapy more effective against locally advanced ER-positive and triple-negative breast cancers. They will use laboratory experiments, animal models, and analyses of tumor samples to see how the drugs change cancer cell response to radiation and to check for safety. The team aims to validate dosing and timing so the combination could be given safely alongside standard radiation. If findings look promising, they will inform clinical trials that could offer the combination to patients at participating centers.
Why it matters
Potential benefit: If successful, this approach could lower local recurrence rates and improve survival for women with high-risk node-positive ER-positive or triple-negative breast cancer.
How similar studies have gone: CDK4/6 inhibitors are proven effective in metastatic ER-positive breast cancer, but combining them with radiation is relatively new and mainly supported by preclinical and early-phase studies.
Where this research is happening
-
University of Michigan at Ann Arbor
Ann Arbor, United States Active
Researchers
- Principal investigator: Speers, Corey W. — University of Michigan at Ann Arbor
- Study coordinator: Speers, Corey W.
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About this research
- This is an active NIH-funded research project — typically early-stage science, not a clinical trial accepting patient enrollment.
- Some NIH-funded labs run parallel clinical studies or seek volunteers for related work. To check, contact the principal investigator or institution listed above.
- For full project details, budget, and progress reports, visit the official NIH RePORTER page.