March 2008 transcript
00:00
Kat: Welcome to the Cancer Research UK podcast, with me, Dr Kat Arney. This month we'll be hearing from Gloria Hunniford about the importance of cancer screening, taking the next steps in our drug development journey, and having dinner in a train station.
Coming up later, we'll hear how a very special gift can make a big difference to research, but first, here’s the news with Josephine Querido.
00:51
Josephine: Cancer Research UK-funded scientists at the Institute of Cancer Research have used genome-scanning technology to track down seven regions of DNA that harbour potentially important genes involved in prostate cancer. This is important because we know relatively little about the genes and molecules involved in this disease.
The research was led by Dr Ros Eeles. She explains how the team carried out their ground-breaking work.
"What the study did was that we analysed DNA, genetic material from blood samples from over 10,000 men and we compared genetic variance in men who had prostate cancer with a control group.
What we did was we ran genetic experiments and they looked for genetic variations, changes in the basis of the DNA code looking to see if the men with prostate cancer had a different overall profile from men who had a very low risk in the control group.
We found there was a marked difference, particularly in seven areas of the genome."
This study was only possible thanks to recent advances in DNA analysis. Another of the study's authors, Professor Doug Easton, explains more.
"In the period since the human genome became sequenced we've been able to identify many millions of genetic changes, perhaps about 10 million that are known. But at the same time we've also managed to develop a particular technology based on the arrays of these variants or SNPs which allow very large numbers of them to be tested simultaneously.
Also the costs have come down a lot so it's now possible to test many hundreds of thousands of SNPs on many thousands of people and that's really made the search for these more common genetic variants possible when it wasn't possible before."
But what does this mean for the 35,000 men in the UK who are diagnosed with prostate cancer every year? Here's Martin Ledwick, Head of Patient Information at Cancer Research UK to tell us more.
"This is really exciting news from a scientific point of view because it's giving the scientists and the people doing research into prostate cancer some really interesting leads. However, we're still not sure what difference it's going to make to screening for prostate cancer or in the long term for treatment.
So for men who are worried about prostate cancer, or who have it, this research doesn’t really mean a great deal, but our hope is that it will lead to some really significant progress in the future."
And finally, do you fancy making your own podcast? If you're aged 14-16 then here's your chance! On the 7th March, we are launching SciencePod - a podcasting competition.
The idea is to interview friends or family on one of these health-related topics: Diet and cancer – does it matter what we eat? Should smoking be totally banned? Is the cervical cancer vaccine a good idea? Or should under 18s be allowed to use sunbeds?
DJ Scott Mills and Alok Jha, the Guardian's science podcaster, are among our panel of judges, and there's a digital camcorder up for grabs for our lucky winner, kindly donated by Samsung.
Entries must be no longer than 4 minutes and must reach us by April 30th. For more information go to www.sciencepod.org.uk
Kat: And if you want find out more about these stories, or get the latest from the charity's scientists, and researchers around the world, then have a look at our News & Resources website.
04:34
Kat:A couple of weeks ago I found myself standing on platform 6 at Paddington station at ten o'clock in the morning, watching some people dressed in evening gowns having a dinner party. I asked community fundraiser Charlotte Pavry what on earth was going on.
"We are promoting Dine at Mine, which is the new community fundraising campaign. It asks people to host a dinner party, invite their friends round, and ask them to bring a donation for Cancer Research UK.
We’ve got everybody in black tie and ballgowns. But it doesn’t have to be like that, it can just be a normal Saturday night supper – probably what you’d do anyway, but we ask people to turn it into a fundraising event.
If you want to host a Dine at Mine party visit our web page at www.cancerresearchuk.org/dine, and we'll send you out a pack with recipe cards, place cards and so on."
05:52
Now it's time for the second part in our series on drug development. Last month we heard how research in the lab helps us discover new cancer targets, and how chemists play a crucial role in designing new drugs.
This month we're going to move on to the next stage of the process – also known as translational research. Our roving reporter Anna Lacey went to meet Caroline Dive, Professor of Cancer Pharmacology and Pharmacy at the Paterson Institute in Manchester, and asked her exactly what translational research involves.
Drug Development part 2
"Translational research to me is the area of research between the basic science that goes on in laboratories where discoveries are made, and taking those discoveries, applying them through to the clinic. So in cancer research, drug discovery is done by first identifying a cancer target . That may be done in something like a yeast rather than a mammalian cell.
That fundamental science then has to be moved through to mammalian systems, in vivo systems, animal systems, and finally to testing in a human being. So for me, translational science is the bridge between the basic science lab and the clinical trial."
After a new drug has been designed, there's still a long way to go before it can be used to treat a human. The director of drug development for Cancer Research UK, Dr Sally Burtles, explained why.
"At that point you haven't even really got a drug, you’ve jut got something that will hit your target. You’ve then got to test it and see if it is potent enough, and will it work in cells – because if you target is inside a cell and your drug won’t get into the cell then it’s never going to work.
And once you've done that we need to make it in sufficient quantity and quality that it can be given to patients – that it’s pure enough and there’s nothing in there that’s going to cause side effects. Then it needs to be formulated into a pill or a liquid injection that you can actually give to a patient in a hospital.
We don't know if it's going to work for sure, so we have to do clinical trials to give the drug to patients in a controlled environment. So the other thing we do before we start a clinical trial is to look at the effects of the drug in animals, and what doses we can use.
So then when you're planning the first trial you can work out what's going to be a safe dose to give to the first patients, also what the side effects might be, and not give a dose that's so low that it's not going to do anything."
Once the drug is tested in humans for the first time, how do scientists know if it's working? Caroline Dive and her team in Manchester are trying to find out by using clues produced by the body, also known as biomarkers.
"What we actually want to know when a new drug goes into a patient for the first time is does the drug hit the target. And if the drug hits the target in the tumour, does the tumour respond to that drug in the way we anticipate.
So really we're looking at these biomarkers that tell us that the drug has hit the target and the tumour has responded. Biomarkers can be a whole range of types of molecule.
One of the questions we're working on is "does a new drug cause a cancer cell to die?" If a cancer cell dies, it sheds particular molecules into the circulation, so we can measure them in the blood. This is called a "surrogate biomarker", because it’s not measured in the tumour itself, but in the bloodstream.
The biomarkers give a nice signal that something is working, but we don't have to go digging around in the patient. The best biomarkers are in blood, urine or even in plucked hairs. We can't keep going to take samples from the tumour – we need to do something that is comfortable for the patient but that gives us good scientific information."
With all the testing involved in translational research, it's inevitable that some will fail – either by being too toxic, having too many side effects or not hitting the right target. But the whole process makes sure that only the best and most promising drugs go on to the next stage and clinical trials. I asked Sally Burtles if she knew how many of those new ideas from the lab would make it through to the clinic.
"I really couldn't say, because you start with thousands if not millions of chemicals and it gets honed down and down. But I would say around 1% or even 0.1% would get through.
Here at the Cancer Research UK Drug Development Office we move a lot of drugs through from the early stages to clinical trials. In the time that Cancer Research UK has been developing new drugs we've taken over 100 molecules into man for the first time, and five of those have got to the market.
I just received news that the first patients are about to be treated on another study. The whole drug development process is translational research, because you're translating what the scientists in the lab discover, developing it, and hopefully if it's successful you'll have treatments for patients that can be used around the world."
11:40
Kat: In the UK we now have screening programmes for breast, bowel and cervical cancer – and they save thousands of lives every year. But we could save many more. Here's broadcaster Gloria Hunniford to explain.
"Screening can help doctors find cancers at really early stage, or even spot early signs that suggest cancer is likely to develop. This makes treatment simpler and more likely to be effective. In other words, screening means more people will survive cancer.
Cancer Research UK wants as many people as possible to benefit from the best screening services. The Screening Matters campaign calls on the UK governments to screen at least 3 million more people over the next five years.
But of course the success of this campaign depends on your support as well. By completing our pledge, not only will you be showing politicians that screening matters, but at the same time you'll be making a personal pledge that if you’re invited for screening you'll go along. And if your friends and family are invited, you'll encourage them to go as well. Together we can show that screening matters."
Kat: Our Screening Matters campaign has now been running for just over six months. I asked Jon Spiers, CancerCampaigns manager, how well it's going and what people can do now.
"We've had a really fantastic response so far, with over 100,000 supporters signing our screening Matters pledge. Now we've moved into the parliamentary phase, asking people to email their MP, or their MSP or Assembly member if they live in Scotland or Wales.
It's very simple and we've written the email for you. Just visit the website, www.cancercampaigns.org and just put in your postcode. We're looking for quite a lot of different things but the main focus is getting politicians engaged with the screening services in their area and promoting screening services to their constituents."
13:57
Kat: When we talk about fundraising, you may think of events like Cancer Research UK's Race For Life, one of our charity shops, or a collection tin at a coffee morning.
But last year we received more than £138 million from just one type of supporter – people remembering us in their wills. In fact, these generous gifts support more than a third of our total research spend.
Over the next few weeks, Cancer Research UK is running a media campaign called "We Will", highlighting the importance of this type of gift. But what does fundraising – and legacies in particular – mean to our scientists?
To find out, I spoke to researcher Maria Ocampo Hafalla from our London Research Institute. I started by asking her to explain a little bit about her work.
"I study chromosome segregation. This sounds very complicated but essentially I'm interested in the "blueprint for life", which is DNA that's packaged into things called chromosomes.
For the growth and proliferation of all cells you first need to duplicate the genetic material and then divide it between the two daughter cells. We're studying a protein that helps regulate that division, and if you have problems with that, then that’s a very common feature of cancer.
I'm so impressed working for Cancer Research UK. It's hard to believe that facilities like this, all these incredible resources and the high-calibre scientists with really important research are funded by people's donations.
So in order to show appreciation for our supporters and also because we believe so much in the work that we do, a lot of my colleagues and I have started running the Race for Life, or participating in those events as volunteers.
I've also been to a legacy event, just to interact more with volunteers and to tell them how much we appreciate the work their support. We couldn’t do the work that we do without them. The long-term support provided by legacies is critical.
People who donate to the charity through legacies provide for our work for years and year to come - for generations to come really. And the work that we do can help generations as well. So without the legacies we wouldn't be able to function.
It was very humbling to meet the supporters at the legacy event. I felt quite intimidated by all these wonderful people who are so committed to the work that we do. As a scientist working in the lab it was an honour to meet them, to be around them and have the opportunity to thank them for their generosity.
And it was also touching because a lot of the time they had a very personal reason for contributing to the charity, and it was an honour to remember why we do the work that we do here.
I would definitely think about leaving a legacy to Cancer Research UK in the future. Unfortunately we have a lot of family and friends who have been affected by cancer – it's one of the reasons I work here.
Cancer research is something I'm definitely committed to. Right now it's the research I'm hoping will address that, but any opportunity I have to help in the fight against cancer certainly would be an honour."
Kat: If you want to find out more about how you can leave a gift to Cancer Research UK in your will, then have a look at our legacy website/a>.
17:43
We've reached the end once more so we hope you've enjoyed the podcast. Don't forget that your feedback is vital in helping us improve the show, so please send us your comments and suggestions by email to podcast@cancer.org.uk.
We'll be back next month with all the latest news from Cancer Research UK, and having a 5-a-side kickabout to raise money for bowel cancer research!
- Credits:
- Presented and produced by Kat Arney
- News by Josephine Querido and Kat Arney
- Drug discovery package 2 by Anna Lacey
- Original music written and performed by Kat Arney and Henry Scowcroft
- With special thanks to all the participants
