FDG-PET - quantitative measurements in ovarian cancer
Case Study
For patients with recurrent ovarian cancer, there is an urgent need to identify more effective therapies. An imaging tool that can robustly identify early response would be of value both in the clinical setting and as a biomarker for drug development. The FDG-PET study in ovarian cancer with Dr Andrea...
Harnessing viruses against brain tumours
Case Study
Oncolytic viruses are good candidates for investigating new treatments as they preferentially replicate in, and kill cancerous cells. Such viruses target and ‘invade’ tumour cells, multiplying inside the invaded cell until it bursts and is destroyed. They can also be primed with anti-cancer drugs to boost their destructive potential as...
Cell-free DNA - a promising biomarker
Case Study
The detection and genetic analysis of circulating cell-free DNA (cfDNA) in plasma may provide a promising dynamic biomarker that can distinguish cancer patients from other patients with non-neoplastic disease. The team at the Leicester ECMC led by Professor Jacqui Shaw is developing technology for the extraction and analysis of cell-free...
Pharmacogenomics - adapting treatment for neuroblastoma
Case Study
Pharmacogenetics is the study of inherited genetic differences in drug metabolic pathways, which can affect individual responses to drugs both in terms of therapeutic effect as well as adverse effects. Research in this exciting field moves towards determining how a patient will respond to medicines in order to customise treatment...
Targeting the epigenetics of NETs
Case Study
Neuroendocrine Tumors (NETs) are a varied group of rare cancers which arise from the hormone-producing cells of the body’s nervous and endocrine systems. In this study, Dr Anna Karpathakis and the team at UCL ECMC investigate Genome-wide DNA methylation profiling of gastrointestinal NETs with an aim to lay the foundation...
Bioinformatics approaches to precision medicine
Case Study
One of the toughest bottlenecks that hampers the clinical adoption of precision medicine into the NHS is the lack of powerful datasets that are able to incorporate research and clinical data. Fortunately as bioinformatics continues to grow, new approaches target exactly this problem. The Edinburgh and Dundee ECMC team have...
The DIAPHRAGM study - biomarkers in MPM
Case Study
In line with Glasgow’s cancer research strategy, which aims to define and implement personalised treatment strategies on the basis of the patient’s molecular phenotype, the Analytical Services Unit (ASU) at the Glasgow ECMC are leading the way in the development of novel biomarker assays. Dr Kevin Blyth, in collaboration with...
iKnife - intelligent surgery
Case Study
Imperial ECMC has developed a ground breaking technique for accurately identifying tumour cells during surgery, which helps to prevent cancer cells from regrowing after treatment; the technique is highlighted in a BBC news story . The Imperial group managed to solve the problem of tissue analysis without introducing any new...
T4 Immunotherapy in SCCHN
Case Study
The KHP ECMC team has a strong track record in the development and preclinical testing of cell therapy agents which use the patient’s own immune cells in a range of cancers. Recently, KHP scientists have developed a groundbreaking approach in head and neck cancer called T4 immunotherapy. The T4 immunotherapy...
SONATINA phase II - nelfinavir drug trial
Case Study
Dr Sharma lead the SONATINA phase II randomised trial which investigated the safety and the activity of the radiosensitising drug, nelfinavir, administered before and during radiotherapy in patients with rectal carcinoma. Nelfinavir is a radiosensitiser which has shown to increase tumour blood flow in preclinical models. The Oxford ECMC team...