Dr Heike Grabsch

Section of Pathology and Tumour Biology
St James’s University Hospital
Leeds

Personalised treatment for oesophageal cancer

Dr Heike Grabsch is based at St James’ University Hospital in Leeds. She is looking for ways to personalise treatments for oesophageal and stomach cancers. Her research will help ensure that, in the future, patients are given the treatments that will work best for them.

Surgery can sometimes be used to treat oesophageal cancer, but it’s often not possible to operate. The disease can also come back after surgery in some cases.

Treatment with chemotherapy before surgery can improve the chances of success by shrinking the tumour. Currently, most patients are given a chemotherapy combination called CF. However, treatment with CF doesn't always reduce the size of the tumour, and can cause side effects. Some tumours may also return after treatment.

Biomarkers

Dr Grabsch and her team are searching for molecular ‘hallmarks’ – also known as biomarkers – that may reveal whether or not a patient is likely to respond to CF chemotherapy. This could allow patients to be tested before they’re given the treatment, to predict if they are likely to benefit.

Dr Grabsch is also collecting blood and tissue samples from patients who are participating in two large clinical trials for oesophageal and stomach cancer. She is using the samples to find more biomarkers that can be used to help personalise treatments for these diseases. By giving permission for their samples to be used, participants on these clinical trials will help to benefit people with these cancers in the future.

Discovering reliable biomarkers will allow doctors to tailor treatments to individual patients' needs. This will lead to treatments that are kinder to patients, with fewer side effects, and enable more people to survive cancer.