Cancer treatments should be overlapped to stop the return of breast cancer tumours.
Doctors believe research at the University of Leeds could pioneer an individually tailored treatment programme that corresponds to the specific properties of each tumour.
Although survival rates for breast cancer continue to increase, some tumours develop a resistance to the current hormone therapies and after initial successful treatment the cancer returns.
Researchers found resistant tumours have a higher concentration of a protein called FGFR3. Currently drugs used in the treatment of other cancers target this protein in an attempt to combat the growth of a tumour.
Patients have few treatment options once the breast cancer has become resistant to standard treatment, so the study's lead author Dr Darren Tomlinson believes this research is of the "utmost importance".
Cancer Research UK states the symptoms of breast cancer include an alteration of the breast size or shape, or a lump in the breast.