Sheffield Cancer Research Centre Newsletter
Issue 4 – September 2013
Welcome to the SCRC Newsletter
The newsletter is for sharing information on activities and developments. There are sections on news; awards, achievements; and events. We hope you find the newsletter informative and useful. If you have any information or news you would like to share with colleagues in the Centre then please contact Lance Burn () or Deborah Reid ()
Deadlines
Children’s projects deadline – Friday 6th September 2013
SCRC Studentships – Project Submissions –Deadline extended to Monday 9th September 2013
http://www.sheffield.ac.uk/sheffield-cancer-research-centre/studentships-jobs/project-call
News
Charities Join Forces to Fund Sheffield Brain Tumour Project
YORKSHIRE Cancer Research has joined forces with Weston Park Hospital Cancer Charity, Sheffield, to fund a three-year investigation into the treatment of brain tumours. Brain cancer is one of the biggest killers of people aged under 40 in the UK and the brain is the most common place for solid tumours to occur in children. Patients with the most aggressive, fastest growing type of brain tumour called glioblastoma have an average survival of just over a year. Despite this, less than 1% of national cancer funding is awarded to brain tumour research and current treatment strategies remain ineffective.
The two charities have awarded Dr Spencer Collis and colleagues at the University of Sheffield and Royal Hallamshire Hospital a grant of £218,671 to investigate ways to improve treatments that are already in use.
Dr Spencer Collis
Dr Collis, from the University of Sheffield's Department of Oncology, said: “As chemotherapy works by damaging a cell’s DNA, this study aims to assess whether a specific mechanism used by brain tumour cells to protect their DNA can be inactivated through the use of novel drugs. This could improve the effectiveness of current chemotherapeutic treatments, especially as normal brain tissue should hopefully not be affected by these drugs.”
Kathryn Scott, Head of Research Funding at Yorkshire Cancer Research, said: “This project is a fantastic example of charities working together to advance our knowledge of cancer. Cancer tends to be a disease of old age, but brain tumours often hit people in the prime of their life so it is incredibly important that we fund more research in this area.”
Tina Harrison, Acting Deputy Director at Weston Park Hospital Cancer Charity, added: “Statistics show that by 2020, 1 in 2 people will be directly affected by cancer, so we are pleased to be working with Yorkshire Cancer Research to fund this crucial research into brain cancer.
“If together we are able to help lead the way to improving the low survival rates associated with brain cancer, it can only be a positive thing and something that will ultimately help to keep more families in our area together for longer.”
Yorkshire team offers hope in fight against asbestos cancer.
World-leading specialists in Yorkshire have launched a ground-breaking trial harnessing a common virus to target an incurable cancer which claims the lives of thousands of people in the UK every year.
Experts in Sheffield are among only a handful of investigators at centres around the globe examining state-of-the-art viral treatments which could offer hope to patients diagnosed in the future with the deadly asbestos-related condition mesothelioma. Three patients have so far been given infusions of the herpes simplex virus engineered in the laboratory to kill tumours and leave normal cells unharmed. Once checks to test its safety have been completed, experts hope to expand the programme to find out if the unique approach can extend the lives of patients or even cure the disease. Latest figures show more than 2,300 people die from the condition each year in the UK, usually many decades after they were exposed to asbestos. Average life expectancy is only nine months following diagnosis and symptoms are often severe. It is estimated another 70,000 people in the UK will develop mesothelioma in coming decades. Viral treatments are among a new generation of potential therapies being explored to treat a range of cancers.
Chief investigator Prof Penella Woll, from the Sheffield Experimental Cancer Medical Centre at Weston Park Hospital, said: “We are really desperate for new treatments for mesothelioma. For us it is terrifically exciting and the patients are very engaged in using this to target tumours rather than the blunderbuss approach of chemotherapy. This is something that is unique. If it does what we hope, then I think it could be a major step forward. For those patients who can get really severe symptoms the prospect of improving their quality of life will also be really important.”
Professor Penella Woll
Co-investigator John Edwards, an internationally-recognised expert on mesothelioma and thoracic surgeon at the Northern General Hospital in Sheffield, said only a “select band” of research teams were looking at the approach around the world. “It’s been a big effort and hence for Sheffield to join the likes of the other centres world famous for cancer research in this work is a real landmark,” he said. “The beauty of this treatment it seems is that it is very well tolerated. We don’t know yet if it works but it seems suitable also for those who cannot tolerate chemotherapy as it doesn’t have the toxicity.”
Around 100 patients with the condition are treated in Sheffield each year, mainly people who have worked in heavy industries around South Yorkshire and the north Midlands.
Mr John Edwards
“It’s a devastating disease – completely incurable, resistant to most treatments and it’s progressive,” Me Edwards added. “It’s frequently extremely painful and it’s something that is not the fault of those that get it. Treatments don’t cure the disease and there is an urgent need for research to develop better therapies. The ultimate end point is to improve length of life as well as quality of life and find something that makes an incurable disease a curable disease.”
The initial trial involves 12 patients to test the safety of the therapy in different doses. Researchers want to find out too if the virus is reproducing in cancer cells and killing them. Patients are also being scanned to see what impact the therapy has on tumours.
The virus has been developed by biotechnology firm Virttu Biologics and has already been used in trials on patients in the United States with brain and liver cancers, as well as in children with cancer.
Its chief executive officer Steven Powell said: “This study is an important step in our efforts to both develop a new treatment option for mesothelioma and demonstrate the safety of regional delivery of oncolytic viruses. We are delighted that the first patients have been treated successfully and we are looking forward to future data as the study continues.”
Tri-Centre Networking Event: Translational cancer research – from lab to clinic
On Friday 5 July 2013 the CRUK Centres in Sheffield and Leeds and the Experimental Cancer Medicine Centres (ECMC) in Sheffield, Leeds and Leicester, for the first time, brought together nearly 100 clinicians and scientists for a networking workshop on how to translate cancer research from the lab to the clinic.
Event organiser Professor Penella Woll said, “The day was an opportunity for our top researchers to show case their world class research and discuss with representatives of the CRUK Drug Development Office and the pharmaceutical industry how this process can be accelerated.
Through their ECMCs each centre has translated basic scientific research from the laboratory bench to the hospital clinic, bringing new treatments to patients in their area and beyond.”
Professor Penella Woll Delegates
Professor Rob Coleman, Director of the Sheffield Centre, described how Sheffield had contributed to the development and worldwide use of the RANKL inhibitor, denosumab in breast and prostate cancers that have, or are likely to, metastasise to the bone.
Professor Alan Anthoney showcased Leeds’s recently completed early phase clinical trial of an aurora kinase inhibitor to treat patients with solid tumours unresponsive to standard treatments that had been carried out as part of CRUK’s Clinical Development Partnership with GlaxoSmithKline.
The Leicester ‘case study’ from Professor Will Steward told the story of a compound called, curcumin which comes from turmeric, the yellow spice used in Asian cooking. Professor Steward said “Curcumin, as well as entering clinical trials to explore its benefit in preventing cancer development, has been shown in the laboratory to increase the effectiveness of some chemotherapy drugs in advanced diseases and a trial is now underway in Leicester to test this.”
Left to right: Will Steward, Rob Coleman, Alan Anthoney
Scientists and Clinicians were also educated in the role of the CRUK Drug Development Office headed up by Dr Nigel Blackburn. Dr Blackburn described the help available to researchers from CRUK to develop cancer chemotherapy drugs.
Industry collaborators also took part in the networking event with Dr Val Baker and Dr Jill Walker discussing how AstraZeneca was partnering with universities to develop new anti-cancer drugs and biomarkers of cancer progression or successful treatment. Dr Baker said that “Pharma-Academic oncology clinical partnerships are really a win-win-win situation, bringing benefits not only to the company and academic group, but most importantly to patients by providing access to new therapies at an earlier timescale”.
Left to right: Jill Walker, Nigel Blackburn, Val Baker
Highlights from the early afternoon session included how Leicester has set up a phase 1 trials unit. Dr Sarah Brown from the Leeds CTRU described how they could help to set up and run early phase clinical trials based on their experience as the national co-ordinating centre for the Myeloma UK Clinical Trial Network. The patients’ perspective and the patients’ potential to advise clinicians on conducting early phase cancer trials was passionately communicated by Mr Dave Ardron.
Left to right: Anne Thomas, Sarah Brown, Dave Ardron
The final session examined how different cancer biomarkers were being developed at the three centres. Some fabulous examples of where the three Centres’ researchers were already working together to pool expertise and push the use of newly discovered biomarkers into routine clinical practice were described by Naveen Vasudev, Jacqui Shaw and Martyn Paley.
Event organiser Rob Coleman commented “Networking events like this allow CRUK Centres to come together and achieve a critical mass of expertise in highly specialised and focused areas of research – today has made a real impact on our collective ambition to treat cancer patients with better drugs and new treatment regimes.”
Networking in the Sun
The weather on the day was a scorcher and all were delighted to finish the day networking on the patio with ice lollies and ice cream.
It is hoped that in the future this will develop into an annual networking event with a rotating host centre.
Head and Neck Cancer Patients Welcomed into Centre
On the 19th July, members of the Sheffield Head and Neck Cancer support group visited the School of Dentistry to find out more about the Centre’s research. They heard presentations from leading researchers in head and neck cancer and then toured the laboratories to see the work at first-hand.
Entertaining the ladies at Meadowhall
On 4th July, ‘Ladies Night’ drew eager customers to Meadowhall looking for a bit of pampering as well a chance to shop. In support of Race For Life, Centre researcher Prem Yugandhar was on hand to speak shoppers about his research and to provide health information.
Diary Dates
Seminar Series – for information, please see: http://www.shef.ac.uk/sheffield-cancer-research-centre/news-and-events/seminar-series
13th September 2013 - Sheffield Neuro-Oncology Workshop - 13:00 - 17:00 (lunch will be provided) -
Sheffield Institute for Translational Neuroscience, 385A Glossop Road, S10 2HQ
The CR-UK/YCR Sheffield Cancer Research Centre is currently defining a neuro-oncology research strategy and sees this as an important future strategic growth area. As part of our future strategy and within our CR-UK Centre application and YCR Endowment spending plans we have proposed:
1. A potential senior academic appointment in neuro-oncology
2. A potential 3 year post-doctoral fellowship in neuro-oncology
3. 2 research PAs in neuro-oncology
4. Fully-funded biobanking of brain tumours, body fluids and patient data
5. Pump-prime funding opportunities
6. Well-funded clinical and non-clinical PhD studentships
7. Funding for ACF, Academic F2 and BMedSci projects
8. CR-UK Strategic Funding call available from September 2014
You can register for this event at: (http://www.sheffield.ac.uk/sheffield-cancer-research-centre/workshops/neuro-oncology)
If you have any thoughts or comments to make on this subject please get in touch with Lance Burn () before the event so that your ideas can be incorporated.
2nd October 2013 – Extraordinary Seminar by Dr James Bradford – fellowship for Cancer Centre bioinformatician. To be held at 1pm, Lecture Theatre 3 of the Medical School.
8th October 2013 – Extraordinary Seminar by Dr Sebastien Serres – to be held at 1pm, Lecture Theatre 3 of the Medical School.
16th October 2013 – Extraordinary Seminar by Dr Vladimir Teif from BioQuant & German Cancer Research Cente, Neuenheimer Feld, Germany – Interplay between nucleosome repositioning, DNA methylation and transcription factor rearrangement during stem cell development’ to be held at 1pm, Lecture Theatre 3 of the Medical School.
11th October 2013 - SCRC - INSIGNEO Workshop – This workshop, which is run jointly between Insigneo and CR-UK/YCR Sheffield Cancer Research Centre, is to be held at The Edge Conference Centre, Sheffield from 9.00am to 16.20pm. Details can be found at: http://www.shef.ac.uk/sheffield-cancer-research-centre/workshops.
In silico modelling has enormous potential in several aspects of cancer research, including understanding the development of the disease and optimising its treatment. Data/areas of interest could include molecules through organelles, cells, tissues, organs, individuals to populations. Although they currently have relatively few researchers working in this field in Sheffield, it is an area that is obviously ripe for development, and the Insigneo Institute and the CR-UK/YCR Sheffield Cancer Research Centre are particularly well placed to lead this.