World Cancer Research Day

22 September 2023

Sunday 24^th September 2023 is world cancer research day, and this year the theme is on integrating diversity. You can read more about the global event here: https://www.worldcancerresearchday.com/

At Barts Centre for Squamous Cancer, we’re working to improve cancer outcomes for our diverse local population in East London. We’re taking this opportunity to celebrate the incorporation of diverse patient populations in our cancer research. We’ve put together some highlights below.

 

Muy-Teck Teh: A rapid PCR test for early mouth cancer detection.

Currently, there is no test that can rapidly identify mouth cancer in patients with suspicious oral lesions. Patients often have to wait up to 21 days for their biopsy test results. This leads to patient anxiety, stress, burden on time and resources, delayed treatment and poor patient outcome. To overcome this problem, Dr Muy-Teck Teh and his team members have invented a molecular diagnostic PCR test that can produce diagnostic results within 90 minutes from a tiny 1mm tissue biopsy. The test, named qMIDS, has been validated in geographically and ethnically diverse patient cohorts from Norway, United Kingdom, India, Pakistan and China. The team is currently working on incorporating artificial intelligence to automate mouth cancer diagnosis.

https://www.qmul.ac.uk/dentistry/people/profiles/drmuyteckteh.html

 

Diana Blaydon and David Kelsell: Revealing the earliest signs of esophageal cancer.

Dr Diana Blaydon and Prof David Kelsell (@davidkelsell) are studying how a rare genetic disease causes the most common type of esophageal cancer. With funding from the Worldwide Cancer Research charity, they hope that revealing previously unknown early signs of the disease will help more patients be diagnosed and treated sooner.

Esophageal (or oesophageal) squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC) is an aggressive form of esophageal cancer that is often diagnosed only once the cancer has already spread. This means survival rates for ESCC are much lower than some other cancers. The team are studying a rare disease called tylosis with oesophageal cancer (TOC), which is linked with an increased risk of developing ESCC. By analysing how TOC causes ESCC, the researchers hope to identify early changes that can help us diagnose and treat ESCC patients sooner. This could mean more patients surviving longer as earlier treatments often work better.

https://www.qmul.ac.uk/blizard/all-staff/profiles/diana-blaydon.html

https://www.qmul.ac.uk/blizard/all-staff/profiles/david-kelsell.html

 

Adrian Biddle: A prognostic test for oral cancer in a diverse East London population.

Dr Adrian Biddle and his lab team developed a molecular biomarker test that can be performed on a patient’s oral tumour early on in their treatment course to determine whether the cancer is likely to spread. This knowledge would be a great help to the doctors who are making treatment decisions, and may allow some patients to undergo less surgery. At Barts, we have a library of preserved oral cancer material that we are now using to check how well this new test works. If it works well enough on this preserved material, we’ll then be able to trial it with patients coming to Barts. The fantastic diversity of the local patient population in East London is an important advantage when developing technologies such as this one, as it helps give us confidence that our new medical technologies will work for all.

This project was funded by Oracle Cancer Trust, the UK’s head and neck cancer charity.

https://www.qmul.ac.uk/blizard/all-staff/profiles/adrian-biddle.html