Shannen Doherty has outlined her ambition to become "the longest-living person with cancer", insisting that she is still "very much alive".

The actress previously overcame breast cancer but announced last year that her cancer had returned and was stage four, meaning that it had spread to other parts of her body.

The 50-year-old has continued to act, however, and has recently completed work on a new Lifetime movie, List of a Lifetime, which follows a woman with breast cancer.

"I feel like I have a responsibility in my more public life, which I separate from my acting life... to talk about cancer and perhaps educate people more and let people know that people with stage 4 are very much alive and very active," she is quoted as saying by People.

"My husband says that you would never know that I have cancer. I never really complain. I don't really talk about it. It's part of life at this point."

Asked if she has a bucket list, she replied: "I just think a bucket list is odd in my particular situation because it means that I'm sort of trying to check things off before my time runs out.

"I'm very much like there's no bucket list because I'm going to be the longest-living person with cancer. If I had to say one, it would just be living. That's the only thing on my list at this point."

Breast cancer is the most common form of cancer in the US, with 1.7 million new cases reported every year.