Prof Gordon Jayson

Gordon Jayson

Translational Angiogenesis Laboratory
Christie Hospital NHS Trust
Manchester

New cancer treatments that block blood vessel growth

Gordon Jayson is Professor of Medical Oncology at the Christie Hospital in Manchester. His world-class research focuses on new cancer treatments that block blood vessel growth, starving tumours of essential nutrients and oxygen. Ultimately, his work is helping more women survive ovarian cancer.

Understanding angiogenesis drugs

The process of new blood vessel growth, called angiogenesis, is essential for cancer development. Bevacizumab (Avastin), a drug that blocks this process, is already being used to treat people with bowel cancer that has spread.

A large international clinical trial called ICON-7 has been testing if the addition of bevacizumab to standard chemotherapy improves the outcome for women with ovarian cancer. The disease is often diagnosed when it is already quite advanced, making it difficult to treat successfully.

Professor Jayson is leading a large-scale lab study to analyse blood and tumour samples taken from patients involved in the ICON-7 trial. The aim of this research is to find 'biomarkers', proteins whose levels can be measured to predict how individual women will respond to treatment.

This information will allow doctors to tailor cancer drugs to patients, and should help to increase the success of ovarian cancer treatment in the future.

Developing new drugs to block angiogenesis

Professor Jayson is also hunting for new ways to block angiogenesis and starve tumours of their blood supply. He is particularly interested in a group of proteins called fibroblast growth factors (FGFs) that can encourage new blood vessel growth.

The researchers have found that FGFs depend on another type of molecule called heparan sulfate to work properly. They have discovered that disrupting this partnership can prevent angiogenesis, and are now using this knowledge to design and test potential new treatments for ovarian cancer.

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