Elizabeth Hurley joins Brighton cancer research

The actress, who is Global Ambassador for The Estée Lauder Companies’ Breast Cancer Campaign, was visiting ahead of October’s ‘Breast Cancer Awareness Month’.

Hurley first visited Brighton and Sussex Medical School (BSMS), run jointly by the universities of Brighton and Sussex, to learn about new research funded by Breast Cancer Research Foundation® (BCRF), through money raised by The Estée Lauder Companies’ Breast Cancer Campaign.

She met Professor Dame Lesley Fallowfield, Professor of Psycho Oncology at Sussex Health Outcomes, Research & Education in Cancer (SHORE-C), whose BCRF-funded research is assessing the psycho-social aspects of breast cancer and ways in which supportive interventions, such as gentle exercise, yoga and mindfulness, can reduce stress hormones and improve patients’ well-being during treatment.

Elizabeth Hurley

Left to right Professor Dame Lesley Fallowfield, Research Fellow Dr Caroline Garratt , Liz Hurley and Dr Mel Flint

Hurley spent time in a University of Brighton research laboratory and took part in a test which measures levels of stress (cortisol) hormones, using saliva samples provided before and after a relaxing activity, as well as meeting patients at a local hospital.

She said: “Every 19 seconds, somewhere in the world, a woman is diagnosed with breast cancer. The work that the team at BSMS is doing is just one example of the extensive ground-breaking research that is being undertaken by the BCRF around the world, with generous support from The Estée Lauder Companies’ Breast Cancer Campaign, as part of its mission to create a breast cancer-free world.”

Dame Lesley, DBE, BSc, DPhil, FMedSci, Professor of Psycho-oncology at University of Sussex and UK BCRF Grantee, said: “Going through breast cancer treatment can be an extremely challenging and stressful time for patients and their families. We want to establish whether stress reducing activities performed on a regular basis could have a positive effect on not only patients’ wellbeing, but also on improving the effectiveness of their treatment as we know that cortisol can cause cancer cells to grow and also interfere with treatment. Collectively, we are committed to the mission of working towards a breast cancer-free world.”

Stress hormones interact with almost every cell in the body, including normal and cancer cells. The scientists leading the research noticed that increased levels of stress hormones interfered with the way that cells function and repair themselves in the laboratory. As many women, especially those diagnosed with breast cancer, will feel stressed at some point.

The research, carried out in partnership with Dr Melanie Flint, Reader in Cancer Biology at the University of Brighton and working with Dame Lesley at BSMS, aims to understand how incorporating stress management techniques into breast cancer treatment regimes may make chemotherapy work better.

In the 25 years that The Estée Lauder Companies has funded pioneering research through the BCRF, breast cancer mortality rates have decreased by 38 per cent, almost eight in 10 (78 per cent) women diagnosed with breast cancer in England and Wales survive their disease for ten years or more, and treatments have improved dramatically. Yet breast cancer remains the most common cancer in the UK and one in eight women in the UK will develop the disease during their lifetime. This year The Campaign hopes to raise a further $8 million to fund more research, education and medical services.

This October, The Estée Lauder Companies’ Breast Cancer Campaign is inviting the public to take action through a universal call: it’s #TimeToEndBreastCancer.