̽��ֱ�� of Cambridge - Cancer Research UK Cambridge Institute

Imaging technique allows rapid assessment of ovarian cancer subtypes and their response to treatment

jg533 — Fri, 06 Dec 2024 09:17:27 +0000

̽��ֱ��technique, called hyperpolarised carbon-13 imaging, can increase the detected signal in an MRI scanner by more than 10,000 times. Scientists have found that the technique can distinguish between 2 different subtypes of ovarian cancer, to reveal their sensitivities to treatment.

They used it to look at patient-derived cell models that closely mimic the behaviour of human high grade serous ovarian cancer, the most common lethal form of the disease. ̽��ֱ��technique clearly shows whether a tumour is sensitive or resistant to Carboplatin, one of the standard first-line chemotherapy treatments for ovarian cancer.

This will enable oncologists to predict how well a patient will respond to treatment, and to see how well the treatment is working within the first 48 hours.

Different forms of ovarian cancer respond differently to drug treatments. With current tests, patients typically wait for weeks or months to find out whether their cancer is responding to treatment. ̽��ֱ��rapid feedback provided by this new technique will help oncologists to adjust and personalise treatment for each patient within days.

̽��ֱ��study compared the hyperpolarised imaging technique with results from Positron Emission Tomography (PET) scans, which are already widely used in clinical practice. ̽��ֱ��results shows that PET did not pick up the metabolic differences between different tumour subtypes, so could not predict the type of tumour present.

̽��ֱ��report is published today in the journal Oncogene.

“This technique tells us how aggressive an ovarian cancer tumour is, and could allow doctors to assess multiple tumours in a patient to give a more holistic assessment of disease prognosis so the most appropriate treatment can be selected,” said Professor Kevin Brindle in the ̽��ֱ�� of Cambridge’s Department of Biochemistry, senior author of the report.

Ovarian cancer patients often have multiple tumours spread throughout their abdomen. It isn’t possible to take biopsies of all of them, and they may be of different subtypes that respond differently to treatment. MRI is non-invasive, and the hyperpolarised imaging technique will allow oncologists to look at all the tumours at once.

Brindle added: “We can image a tumour pre-treatment to predict how likely it is to respond, and then we can image again immediately after treatment to confirm whether it has indeed responded. This will help doctors to select the most appropriate treatment for each patient and adjust this as necessary.

“One of the questions cancer patients ask most often is whether their treatment is working. If doctors can speed their patients onto the best treatment, then it’s clearly of benefit.”

̽��ֱ��next step is to trial the technique in ovarian cancer patients, which the scientists anticipate within the next few years.

Hyperpolarised carbon-13 imaging uses an injectable solution containing a ‘labelled’ form of the naturally occurring molecule pyruvate. ̽��ֱ��pyruvate enters the cells of the body, and the scan shows the rate at which it is broken down - or metabolised – into a molecule called lactate. ̽��ֱ��rate of this metabolism reveals the tumour subtype and thus its sensitivity to treatment.

This study adds to the evidence for the value of the hyperpolarised carbon-13 imaging technique for wider clinical use.

Brindle, who also works at the Cancer Research UK Cambridge Institute, has been developing this imaging technique to investigate different cancers for the last two decades, including breast, prostate and glioblastoma - a common and aggressive type of brain tumour. Glioblastoma also shows different subtypes that vary in their metabolism, which can be imaged to predict their response to treatment. ̽��ֱ��first clinical study in Cambridge, which was published in 2020, was in breast cancer patients.

Each year about 7,500 women in the UK are diagnosed with ovarian cancer - around 5,000 of these will have the most aggressive form of the disease, called high-grade serous ovarian cancer (HGSOC).

̽��ֱ��cure rate for all forms of ovarian cancer is very low and currently only 43% of women in England survive five years beyond diagnosis. Symptoms can easily be missed, allowing the disease to spread before a woman is diagnosed - and this makes imaging and treatment challenging.

̽��ֱ��research was funded by Cancer Research UK.

Reference: Chia, M L: ‘Metabolic imaging distinguishes ovarian cancer subtypes and detects their early and variable responses to treatment.’ Oncogene, December 2024. DOI: 10.1038/s41388-024-03231-w

An MRI-based imaging technique developed at the ̽��ֱ�� of Cambridge predicts the response of ovarian cancer tumours to treatment, and rapidly reveals how well treatment is working, in patient-derived cell models.

We can image a tumour pre-treatment to predict how likely it is to respond, and then we can image again immediately after treatment to confirm whether it has indeed responded

Kevin Brindle

̽��ֱ��text in this work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License. Images, including our videos, are Copyright © ̽��ֱ�� of Cambridge and licensors/contributors as identified. All rights reserved. We make our image and video content available in a number of ways – on our main website under its Terms and conditions, and on a range of channels including social media that permit your use and sharing of our content under their respective Terms.

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10 Cambridge spinouts changing the story of cancer

skbf2 — Thu, 17 Oct 2024 12:57:43 +0000

10 Cambridge spinouts on putting their research into practice to improve outcomes for cancer patients - and why Cambridge is a great place to do this.

Cancer Research UK makes unprecedented £173m investment in ̽��ֱ�� of Cambridge

Anonymous — Tue, 15 Oct 2024 07:30:05 +0000

̽��ֱ��significant funding commitment will enable world-class discovery science, unlocking new insights into how cancers develop, grow and spread, as well as examining how the immune system can be harnessed to combat the disease.

Research at the CRUK Cambridge Institute focuses on understanding every stage of the cancer life cycle – how tumours grow and spread and how this is impacted by the characteristics of each individual patient. By studying how tumours develop, adapt, and interact with their surroundings, scientists aim to uncover crucial insights into their behaviour.

Vice-Chancellor of the ̽��ֱ�� of Cambridge, Professor Deborah Prentice, said: “From understanding and detecting cancer at its very earliest stages, to developing kinder treatments to building Cambridge Cancer Research Hospital, a transformative new cancer research hospital for the region, Cambridge is changing the story of cancer. For many years now, Cancer Research UK has played a vital role in enabling this world-leading work. Today’s announcement will ensure our researchers continue to find new ways to transform the lives of patients locally, nationally and internationally.”

Today’s £173 million announcement further boosts CRUK’s unwavering commitment towards its mission to beat cancer. ̽��ֱ��charity is investing in exciting new research programmes, forging new partnerships and is on track to invest more than £1.5bn on research over the five-year period 2021/22 to 2025/26.

Director of the CRUK Cambridge Institute, Professor Greg Hannon, said: “In a golden era for life sciences, this funding bolsters Cambridge as a major global hub for cancer research on an increasingly competitive worldwide stage and will greatly aid the recruitment of top-tier international talent.

“Research from the Institute has already made a positive impact for patients and their families, from the development of innovative technologies, diagnostic tests, and advanced imaging methods to the roll out of personalised medicine programmes for those with brain, breast, pancreatic, and ovarian cancers. We believe that only by embracing the complexity of cancer and how the disease interacts with the normal cells of patients can we move the needle on the hardest to treat cancers.”

̽��ֱ��Institute is dedicated to improving cancer patients’ lives through discovery science and clinical translational research and has over 300 scientists working on groundbreaking discoveries taking research from laboratory bench to bedside. 

Established in 2007, it was the first major new cancer research centre in the UK for over 50 years. In 2013, it became a department of the ̽��ֱ�� of Cambridge School of Clinical Medicine, strengthening links with researchers across the ̽��ֱ�� and at Addenbrooke's Hospital, and further enhancing its position as a world leader with research transitioning into clinical trials, and ultimately new and better cancer treatments.

Professor Hannon added: " ̽��ֱ��Institute serves as a foundation for the entire Cambridge cancer research community through access to cutting-edge equipment and technical expertise. Only through understanding all aspects of the disease can we prevent, detect and treat cancer so that everybody can lead longer, better lives, free from fear of cancer.

“With this new funding, the Institute aims to accelerate its impact for patients, with new schemes to integrate clinicians into every aspect of our research and to embrace new technologies, including the promise of machine learning and artificial intelligence to enhance our discovery portfolio.”

̽��ֱ��award, which will support the Institute over the next seven years, follows a comprehensive review of the facility led by an independent panel of international cancer experts who recognised research innovation.

CRUK Chief Executive, Michelle Mitchell, said: “We are delighted to confirm this incredible investment which is a reflection of the world-leading research community at the CRUK Cambridge Institute. ̽��ֱ��funding will underpin long-term cutting-edge discovery research, as well as supporting researchers to find new ways to improve cancer prevention and treatment, while creating innovative solutions to diagnose the disease earlier.

“This kind of funding would not be possible without the generosity of Cancer Research UK supporters and philanthropists."

Work undertaken at the Institute includes:

Understanding cancer: By gaining a deeper understanding of how tumours grow, adapt, and interact with their surroundings, scientists hope to uncover why some cells become cancerous and learn how each tumour's lifecycle can affect a patient’s response to treatment and prognosis.  Professor Greg Hannon's team developed a diagnostic tool using virtual reality to explore every cell and aspect of breast tumours in unprecedented detail.
Unravelling tumour interactions: Researchers are investigating a tumours’ ‘microenvironment' – which includes the surrounding cells, blood vessels, and immune cells and how they interact. This is helping scientists to predict how well immunotherapy treatments will work.
Cancer detection: Scientists are finding new ways to detect cancer earlier, predict the best course of treatments and tailor therapies to individual needs, to improve survival.  Using tumour DNA, scientists can monitor the effectiveness of treatments and catch signs of cancer returning. Cambridge scientists are also working on a simple at-home test for future patients to regularly monitor their progress.
Personalised medicine: Looking at the unique genetic mutations of a person’s tumour, including how it behaves and responds to treatment, allows treatments to be developed and matched to the specific genetic change.  For example, Professor James Brenton's team discovered a specific mutation in the most common form of ovarian cancer which is now used across the NHS as a cancer marker to measure treatment response for the disease.

Thanks to research, cancer death rates have fallen by 10% percent in the UK over the past decade. But in the East of England, around 37,400 people are still diagnosed, and around 15,700 lose their lives to the disease every year - underlining the vital need for new and better treatments.

Major studies seeking more accurate treatments for the deadliest cancers like ovarian and oesophageal cancer will also be supported at the Institute.  Research undertaken by Professor Florian Markowetz and his team includes predicting cancer weaknesses to treatment, and spotting cancers as early as possible using AI technology.

There are 17 research groups based at the Institute – based on the largest biomedical campus in Europe - studying a range of cancer and technologies to support improved cancer treatments.

Find out how Cambridge is changing the story of cancer

Adapted from a press release from Cancer Research UK

Cancer Research UK (CRUK) has today announced a £173 million investment in its institute at the ̽��ֱ�� of Cambridge - the largest single grant ever awarded by the charity outside of London.

Today’s announcement will ensure our researchers continue to find new ways to transform the lives of patients locally, nationally and internationally

Deborah Prentice, Vice-Chancellor

Cancer Research UK

Cancer Research UK Cambridge Institute

Yes

Back to BRCA: the discovery of a breast cancer risk gene

cjb250 — Mon, 07 Oct 2024 08:00:50 +0000

In 1994, a landmark paper identified a gene – BRCA1 – that significantly increases the risk of breast and ovarian cancers when faulty. Thirty years on, we look at the major impact it has had on how we understand and treat cancer – and why there is still much to learn.

Cancer researchers and astronomers join forces in fight against disease

Anonymous — Fri, 13 Sep 2024 14:21:05 +0000

̽��ֱ��technology from Cancer Grand Challenges team IMAXT uses advanced spatial biology techniques to analyse tumours, some of which are based on technology originally developed to map the Milky Way and discover new planets. Now, other scientists will be able to access these technologies to create detailed tumour maps that could one day transform how we diagnose and treat cancer.

Led by Professor Greg Hannon and Dr Dario Bressan at the Cancer Research UK Cambridge Institute and Dr Nicholas Walton at the ̽��ֱ�� of Cambridge’s Institute of Astronomy, SPACE will give other researchers the opportunity to study cancer in a way that wasn’t previously possible.

Dr Dario Bressan, Head of the SPACE Laboratory at the Cancer Research UK Cambridge Institute, said: “Tumours aren’t just a uniform mass of cells; they consist of a diverse ecosystem of cancer cells, immune cells, and other essential components that support their survival. Hidden within these intricate networks lies valuable information which could guide us in making more personalised treatment decisions for each patient.

“With the SPACE platform, researchers can zoom into specific cell populations, highlight the complex connections between them, and even run virtual experiments to predict how the tumour might respond to different treatments. By unlocking these insights, we can transform the future of cancer care and uncover new opportunities for targeted therapies.”

̽��ֱ��IMAXT team was first awarded £20 million in 2017 by Cancer Research UK through Cancer Grand Challenges, a global research initiative co-founded by Cancer Research UK and the National Cancer Institute in the US.

Since then, the team has united experts from fields rarely brought together including medicine, Virtual Reality (VR), programming, molecular biology, chemistry, mathematics, and even astronomy, to create a completely immersive tool for studying tumours.

As well as enabling scientists to analyse 3D tumour maps, IMAXT created pioneering VR technology which allows the user to ‘step inside’ a tumour using a VR headset.

With the headset, scientists get to view vast amounts of detailed data about individual tumour cells in a 3D space. Instead of looking at this data on a computer screen, they can see all the information in real-time, as if they were inside the tumour itself.

Professor Greg Hannon, Director of the Cancer Research UK Cambridge Institute, said: "Cancer Grand Challenges offers a unique opportunity for international teams to address some of cancer’s biggest challenges. When we took on our particular challenge, much of what we proposed was science fiction.

“Over the past 7 years, our team has turned those early hopes and ideas into approaches that can now be made broadly available. In nature, biology unfolds in three dimensions, and we now finally have the tools to observe it that way—giving us a much deeper, more accurate view of cancer. We’re thrilled to share these breakthroughs with the broader cancer research community."

ioa-space-image_full.jpg

Director of Cancer Grand Challenges at Cancer Research UK, Dr David Scott, said: “IMAXT is changing what’s possible when it comes to cancer research.

“We can glean important insights about a tumour by analysing its genetic makeup or its proteins, but no technology alone can give us the depth of understanding needed to truly understand this complex disease.

“By combining state-of-the-art technology and vast expertise, IMAXT will change how cancers are classified, treated and managed, giving more people a better chance of surviving their disease.”

̽��ֱ��funding will support the SPACE hub laboratory, hosted at the CRUK Cambridge Institute, and the SPACE analysis and computing platform, developed and operated at the Institute of Astronomy, ̽��ֱ�� of Cambridge. Together SPACE includes and combines most available technologies for the spatial molecular profiling of tumours. ̽��ֱ��continued collaboration between the cancer and astronomy teams from the IMAXT project will ensure the maintenance and development of all critical aspects of the platform – from technical and scientific expertise to instrumentation, computing, and data analysis – to allow SPACE to continue at the forefront research in the rapidly emerging spatial-omics field, and be a valuable centre of excellence to support new research in the Cancer Grand Challenge and cancer research communities.

SPACE is funded by Cancer Research UK through Cancer Grand Challenges. Additional support for the SPACE project has been provided by the UK Space Agency through their funding of the development of imaging and analysis techniques at the IoA, Cambridge for a range of space science missions. These have been successfully applied to spatial imaging data through IMAXT and are ready for wider use in SPACE.

Dr Paul Bate, Chief Executive Officer at UK Space Agency said: “Space is powering our daily lives, from satellite navigation to weather forecasts and climate monitoring. This collaboration between the cancer and astronomy teams in the IMAXT project is another real-world example of how space science and technology is bringing benefits to people here on Earth.

“Thanks to this partnership, the same science and technology that mapped the Milky Way may soon have a positive impact on people battling cancer, and could support doctors to provide better, faster treatment."

Going forward, a next-generation version of the VR technology will be further developed and commercialised by Suil Vision, a start-up company recently launched by IMAXT team members and Cancer Research UK’s innovation arm, Cancer Research Horizons. Suil Vision is the first start-up to emerge from the Cancer Grand Challenges programme. With a £500,000 investment from the Cancer Research Horizons Seed Fund, Suil Vision will create a market-ready version of their suite of VR technologies for analysing multiple types of biological data, rolling these out across research institutions and companies worldwide.

Find out how Cambridge is changing the story of cancer

Image

Top: Lung with two metastatic lesions derived from a mouse primary triple-negative breast tumour. ̽��ֱ��figure shows how the registration of the different imaging modalities to a cellular level allow to segment individual cells and identify tumour cell populations, differentiate hypoxic areas, increased fibrosis, infiltration of immune cells and blood and lymphatic vessels by staining with a panel of 35 cell markers at the same time. Bottom: Sample in 3D depicts a tumour grown in the mammary gland of a mouse showing the power of the SPACE pipeline to produce and visualise large volumes (typically ~100,000 individual images registered and stitched and up to 500TB 500 GB of data). ̽��ֱ��orange fluorescence beads are clearly visible in the medium outside the biological tissue and prove to be crucial for all stages of multimodal registration.

Adapted from a press release by Cancer Research UK

A unique collaboration of astronomers and cancer researchers at Cambridge has been awarded more than £5m to establish the Spatial Profiling and Annotation Centre of Excellence (SPACE) to open up access to their groundbreaking cancer mapping technology and establish collaborations with other scientists to enable them to investigate tumours in 3D.

When we took on our particular challenge, much of what we proposed was science fiction

Greg Hannon

SPACE Laboratory

Lung with two metastatic lesions derived from a mouse primary triple-negative breast tumour

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Sight and sound

sc604 — Tue, 06 Aug 2024 14:13:35 +0000

How photoacoustics could transform cancer detection and monitoring

Changemakers in cancer: Jessica Taylor

zs332 — Mon, 15 Jul 2024 07:00:15 +0000

Dr Jessica Taylor’s ambition is to change the outcome of paediatric brain cancer. She wants children not just to survive but to survive well.

Journeys of discovery: Steve Jackson and a life-saving cancer drug

lw355 — Mon, 15 Jul 2024 07:00:08 +0000

What excites Steve Jackson is understanding how biology works and why it sometimes goes wrong. But what galvanises him is knowing there are people alive today as a result of his discovery of how to create a cancer drug.

̽��ֱ�� of Cambridge - Cancer Research UK Cambridge Institute

Imaging technique allows rapid assessment of ovarian cancer subtypes and their response to treatment

10 Cambridge spinouts changing the story of cancer

Cancer Research UK makes unprecedented £173m investment in ̽��ֱ�� of Cambridge

Find out how Cambridge is changing the story of cancer

Back to BRCA: the discovery of a breast cancer risk gene

Cancer researchers and astronomers join forces in fight against disease

ioa-space-image_full.jpg

Find out how Cambridge is changing the story of cancer

Sight and sound

Changemakers in cancer: Jessica Taylor

Journeys of discovery: Steve Jackson and a life-saving cancer drug

Cancer Research UK makes unprecedented £173m investment in ̽��ֱ�� of Cambridge