International Women’s Day: Women Leading the Future of Cancer Research

Every year on March 8th, the world comes together to celebrate International Women’s Day, recognizing the achievements of women and advocating for gender equality. On this day, we celebrate the women at the Rosalind and Morris Goodman Cancer Institute (GCI) and beyond, whose research is driving progress in cancer treatment, particularily for women.

Women bring invaluable perspectives to science, driving innovation, improving disease outcomes, and refining therapies to reduce side effects. At the GCI, Maëlle Bouchard-Ouellet and Marie-Ève Proulx from the McCaffrey Lab are studying ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS), the most common type of non-invasive breast cancer. DCIS, classified as Stage 0 breast cancer, has the potential to progress to an invasive form, yet little is known about what triggers this transition. Despite estimates that 20–50% of DCIS cases may become invasive, surgery remains the standard treatment.

Historically, cancer research has prioritized increasing survival rates across all cancer types, including breast cancer. While advancements in detection and treatment have improved outcomes, many breast cancer patients (predominantly women) continue to face significant side effects that impact their daily lives. Research shows that women are more susceptible to adverse effects during cancer treatment than men underscoring the need for targeted and effective therapies that enhance patient quality of life .

Maëlle Bouchard-Ouellet, a Master’s student in the McCaffrey lab, is working on Tamoxifen, a highly common drug used to treat a subtype of breast cancer. While effective, Tamoxifen has significant side effects  that can greatly impact women’s lives. Maëlle highlights the importance of studying all aspects of disease and treatments:

“Women’s wellbeing has historically been ignored by medical and research professionals, and treatment side effects are often overlooked, both by the clinical and research communities. This is what drives me to find better markers to identify breast cancer patients who are at higher risk of recurrence after treatment, to orient them to a more efficient drug, so women can have a better quality of life when undergoing breast cancer treatments.”

Women researchers, informed by both expertise and lived experience, recognize the physical and emotional burden of treatments such as surgery or hormone therapy. Given that up to 80% of DCIS cases may never progress, refining treatment strategies to balance survival with quality of life is crucial.
Marie-Ève Proulx, a Ph.D. student researching early breast cancer, shares what motivates her work:

“We definitely need better understanding of the mechanisms driving early breast cancer development and changes in tissue architecture. This will help clinicians identify which lesions are more likely to progress to invasive cancer, and ultimately lead to improved healthcare and outcomes for women.”

New technologies such as spatial transcriptomics and artificial intelligence are helping research move forward and have so far allowed the identification of many potential biomarkers for DCIS progression. However, they still need to be thoroughly validated to be applied in the clinic and provide accurate diagnoses as to which patient will progress to invasive disease and which will not.

At the GCI and beyond, women researchers are driving progress in cancer treatment that we hope will improve patient outcomes for all genders. Their contributions are shaping the future of oncology and scientific innovation.

ⁱ Sex Differences in Risk of Severe Adverse Events in Patients Receiving Immunotherapy, Targeted Therapy, or Chemotherapy in Cancer Clinical Trials - PubMed

ⁱⁱ Tamoxifen Dose De-Escalation: An Effective Strategy for Reducing Adverse Effects? | Drugs

ⁱⁱⁱ Progression from ductal carcinoma in situ to invasive breast cancer: molecular features and clinical significance | Signal Transduction and Targeted Therapy