Southampton

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Overview

Summary

Southampton is a national centre of excellence for experimental cancer therapeutics with particular interests in lymphoma, melanoma, lung and urological cancer research, and specialist clinical services in all other major cancer types. The ECMC provides the specialist laboratory, administrative and clinical delivery support needed to deliver early phase studies quickly and fully.

The Centre aims to build upon its expertise in immunotherapy, uniting both laboratory and clinical research teams to develop novel treatments for both solid and haematological cancers.
Southampton has medical imaging, cellular therapy and radiopharmacy facilities and hosts a fully Human Tissue Association (HTA) accredited tissue bank.

As of the 2017-2022 quinquennium, Southampton ECMC is also a member of the Paediatric Network.

Organisations affiliated with the Southampton ECMC:

Contact the Centre Manager:

Sara Yeats
s.a.yeats@soton.ac.uk
+44 (0) 238 120 3009

Address

ECMC, WISH Lab
LF110 Level F
Mailpoint 850
Southampton General Hospital
Tremona Road
Southampton, SO16 6YD

Team Members

Dr Tony Williams

Centre Lead

apw2@soton.ac.uk

+44 (0) 238120 8065

Dr Williams was appointed as Reader in Clinical Immunology and Allergy in 2009. He graduated in Medicine from University College London and undertook general medicine training in Cardiff. He then specialised in Clinical Immunology and Allergy at Oxford and completed his PhD in the MHC class I antigen presentation at the Weatherall Institute of Molecular Medicine, University of Oxford. He moved to Southampton to undertake a Wellcome Clinician Scientist Fellowship and develop a Translational Clinical Immunology programme through the Faculty of Medicine.

Dr Williams leads a Translational Immunology group within the Experimental Cancer Medicine Centre (ECMC), CRUK Clinical Centre, Southampton that applies cutting edge immunological monitoring analyses (immunometry) to clinical trials that are evaluating immunological modifiers in haematological and solid organ malignancies (i.e. DNA vaccines, monoclonal antibodies and adoptive cellular therapies). He also has translational research programmes in Paediatric Infectious diseases, particularly primary immunodeficiency, and allergic disease. Commercial partnerships with GSK Bio and Merck Serono have been established for the application of immunometry to multi centre vaccine trials.

He is a Clinical Consultant in Immunology and Allergy and Head of the Regional Clinical Immunology Laboratory at Southampton University Hospital Trust.

Scientific Team

Dr Simon Crabb

Associate Professor in Medical Oncology & Deputy Director Southampton ECMC - Clinical

s.j.crabb@soton.ac.uk

+44 (0) 238 120 5170

Prof. Gareth Thomas

Professor of Experimental Pathology & Deputy Director Southampton ECMC - Laboratory

g.thomas@soton.ac.uk

+44 (0) 238 120 6184

Prof. Peter Johnson

Professor of Medical Oncology

johnsonp@soton.ac.uk

+44 (0) 238120 6186

Lindsey Chudley

ECMC Senior Translational Research Fellow

l.chudley@soton.ac.uk

+44 (0) 238 120 6531

Dr Andrew Davies

Associate Professor and Consultant in Medical Oncology

A.davies@southampton.ac.uk

+44 (0) 23 8120 6184

Professor Christian Ottensmeier

Professor of Experimental Medicine

c.h.ottensmeier@soton.ac.uk

+44 (0) 238 120 5048

Dr Juliet Gray

Senior Lecturer in Paediatric Oncology

jcgray@soton.ac.uk

+44 (0) 238 120 6639

Annie Griffin

ECMC Senior Translational Research Fellow

a.e.griffin@soton.ac.uk

+44 (0) 238 120 6531

Dr Francesco Forconi

Associate Professor in Haematological Oncology

F.Forconi@soton.ac.uk

+44 (0)23 81205780

Dr Ioannis Karydis

Associate Professor in Oncology

I.Karydis@soton.ac.uk

Dr Sean Lim

Associate Professor in Medical Oncology

s.lim@soton.ac.uk

+44 (0) 23 8120 8639

Prof. James Batchelor

Professor of Clinical Informatics

j.batchelor@soton.ac.uk

+44 (0) 2381 207218

Sara Yeats

ECMC QA Lead

s.yeats@soton.ac.uk

+44 (0) 238 120 3009

Prof. Alex Mirnezami

Professor of Surgical Oncology, Consultant General and Colorectal Surgeon

ahm@soton.ac.uk

+ 44 (0) 23 8079 5170

Isla Henderson

ECMC Research Technician

i.henderson@soton.ac.uk

+44 (0) 238 120 6644

Celine Galloway

ECMC Research Technician

c.galloway@soton.ac.uk

+44 (0) 238 120 8136

Operational Team

Ruth Challis

WISH Laboratory Operations Manager

ruth.challis@uhs.nhs.uk

+44 (0) 238 120 4763

Denise Dunkley

Early Phase Senior Trial Manager

D.Dunkley@soton.ac.uk

+44 (0) 23 8120 5160

Jac Samuel

Lead Research Nurse

j.a.samuel@soton.ac.uk

+44 (0) 238 120 5112

Karen Underwood

R&D Contact

karen.underwood@uhs.nhs.uk

+44 (0) 2381 203598

Joanna Cantle

Head of Clinical Trials Pharmacy Department

joanna.cantle@uhs.nhs.uk

+44 (0) 238 120 4223

Kathleen Potter

Biobank Manager

kp1@soton.ac.uk

+44 (0) 238 120 5034

Case Study

The TRALA trial – targeted radiation

A new technique developed by the Targeted Radiotherapy Group at the Southampton ECMC has outstanding implications for delivering very precise and focused treatment to malignancies in bone marrow. This would revolutionize radiation therapy for this type of cancer, as it would avoid irradiating healthy organs in compromised individuals.

The AntiCd66 radiation dose escalation study (TRALA) is based on a new technique of preparing patients for transplantation using a radio-labelled monoclonal antibody that targets the bone marrow allowing very precise delivery of high radiation doses to the site of disease, in this case the clonal plasma cells. In a randomised phase II clinical trial, targeted radiotherapy is delivered by an Yttrium 90 radiolabelled anti-CD66 monclonal antibody with high dose melphalan compared to melphalan alone, prior to autologous stem cell transplantation for multiple myeloma.

The study, funded by Leukaemia and Lymphoma Research (LLR) and the National Amyloidosis Centre (NAC) based at the Royal Free Hospital in London, is a stunning display of the usefulness of the ECMC network. It will run for 40 months at four ECMC sites in the UK: Southampton, Royal Free Hospital/University College London (UCL), Newcastle and Birmingham. The Southampton group will provide essential technical support with treatment delivered in Southampton and the Royal Free Hospital (UCL ECMC). The trial is based on several years of pre-clinical and clinical research using the radio-labelled monoclonal antibody in patients undergoing autologous or allogeneic stem cell transplantation for haematological malignancies.

“The group have shown that very high doses of radiation can be safely delivered to the bone marrow with minimal radiation to other organs. If successful, the results of the study will be used to support a larger Phase II trial expanded to include more ECMCs in the UK,” said Dr Kim Orchard, Southampton ECMC.

Targeted Radiotherapy in the Conditioning Prior to Haematopoietic Stem Cell Transplantation Blood (ASH Annual Meeting Abstracts) 2005 106: Abstract 2189

Treatment Modalities

Surgery

Gene therapy

Immunotherapy

Biologics

Radioimmunotherapy

Medical Devices

Therapeutic vaccines

Small Molecules

Radiotherapy

Chemoradiotherapy

Facilities/Translational Research

Phase 1 Capabilities

Phase 1 population: both solid and haematological tumours, adult
Centre specific translational research interest: Our primary expertise to date has been in the development of early phase immunotherapeutics. We are now actively working on developing strategies to control anti-aptoptotic pathways and are developing novel small molecules for clinical testing.
Multi-centre Phase 1 studies: with a particular interest in immunotherapeutic and anti-apoptotic pathways.
First-in-Man studies

Mechanisms studied:

Taxane
TKI
HDAC inhibitors
Diaphorase inhibitor
Hsp 90 inhibitor
Vinca alkaloid
Broad range of novel immunotherapeutics (vaccines, antibodies, adjuvants)

Technology/equipment available within the centre

Full range of medical imaging: CT, MRI (funding for 3T machine under consideration), CT/PET, Gamma camera
Wellcome Trust Clinical Research Facility: for the accommodation of patients in early phase studies, including apheresis equipment and sample processing facilities.
Radiopharmacy: with full MHRA licence for manufacture of immunoconjugates.
Cellular therapy GMP lab: with full MHRA licence for manufacture and storage.

Sample collection

Tissue Banking Activity: in-house HTA licenced Tissue Bank for fresh-frozen tissue, single-cell suspension, whole blood, PBMC, serum and plasma.
Centre contact responsible for sample collection: Kathleen Potter, Ph.D. Telephone: 02381 205034

Other equipment/ facilities not available on site:

Mass spectrometry
Proteomic analysis (university site)
NMR for structural protein analyses (university site)
HPLC

ECMC funding provides infrastructure support for early phase and translational research. From the ECMC Southampton portfolio, the following trials have been carried out.

Trial activity between 2012-2015:

Trial by disease type between 2012-2015:

Southampton

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Scientific Team

Operational Team