May 2009 podcast transcript

00:00

Kat: In this month's show we take a trip up the garden path, as we find out about the charity's garden at this year's Chelsea Flower Show. Plus, should we be popping aspirin to prevent cancer?

Coming up later, Gavin and Stacey star Joanna Page reveals her enthusiasm for Race for Life. But first, here's the news with Josephine Querido.

00:53

Josephine: There's good news this month as Cancer Research UK's statistics team have found that the number of women dying from breast cancer has fallen to less than 12,000 a year for the first time in almost four decades, despite an increasing number of cases.

The new figures show that breast cancer rates have fallen by a third since their peak in 1989, and now 8 out of 10 women survive beyond five years, thanks to improvements in diagnosing and treating the disease.

This includes better chemotherapy and radiotherapy, the use of hormone treatments such as Tamoxifen and Anastrozole, and the introduction of the national NHS breast screening programme.

Here's Senior Science Information Manager Julie Sharp, explaining the significance of the news.

"The incredible thing about these results is that they really show the power of research. They demonstrate how the work of Cancer Research UK is really making a difference to beating cancer.

For example, our role in breast cancer drugs such as Tamoxifen has really shaped the way that patients are treated today. And all of the discoveries our scientists have made are really making a difference to people's lives."

A new report published in the journal The Lancet suggests that taking aspirin in your forties could cut the risk of developing cancer later in life.

Previous research has suggested that people who regularly take aspirin are less likely to develop bowel or breast cancer, and possibly other types of cancer as well. But taking aspirin regularly can also have sid effects, such as causing stomach ulcers or bleeding.

The report, authored by Cancer Research UK scientist Professor Jack Cuzick, looked at all the research that had been done into the risks and benefits of taking aspirin for cancer prevention.

The conclusion was that taking the drug at a younger age, when side effects are less likely to be a problem, could have a protective effect later in life. But we still don't know enough to make strong recommendations, particularly about the best dose of aspirin for people to take.

Here's Professor Cuzick explaining more about the findings.

"We had a meeting in which all the world's experts were gathered together to discuss the role of aspirin in cancer prevention. It was a far-ranging discussion. In the end we decided that we couldn't make clear recommendations at this stage, but identified that the use of aspirin at an earlier age than it's typically used might be really important.

First of all, because it appears that you need to take aspirin for at least ten years to get a benefit, and secondly the side effects of aspirin are much less in younger men and women than at older ages. We're urging researchers to continue to follow-up current trials, and to undertake new trials to clarify the role of aspirin in cancer prevention.

Scientists from Cancer Research Technology – Cancer Research UK's drug development company – have been investigating an exciting potential drug that can slow the growth of pancreatic cancer.

The chemical blocks the activity of a molecule called Protein Kinase D, which is involved in the development of several different types of cancer. In lab tests, the scientists found that it could slow the growth of pancreatic tumours. And it may also have an effect on lung cancers too.

There's still much more work to be done before the chemical becomes a drug that can be tested in clinical trials involving patients, but the initial results are promising and bode well for the future.

Kat: You can get the latest news from our award-winning Science Update blog, at Scienceblog.cancerresearchuk.org 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.

04:35

Kat: Our network of national Cancer Research UK Centres is growing, and we have just announced the launch of the new Southampton Centre, hot on the heels of centres in Belfast, Liverpool and Birmingham.

I spoke to Professor Peter Johnson, Cancer Research UK's Clinical Director, and professor of clinical oncology at the University of Southampton. I started by asking him what the new Centre there is aiming to achieve.

"It's really doing two things. It's building on the success and the track record of the centre, particularly in the field of cancer immunology, bringing vaccines and antibodies into the clinic. And it's also developing some new areas of research as well, primarily around cancer biology and surgery.

So building on the expertise in head and neck cancer within Southampton, to start to develop more understanding of the biology of that, and how it can be applied in the clinic with some important developments in the area of head and neck surgery.

And secondly in the field of breast cancer, to build upon the research particularly in cancer genetics and the cell biology of breast cancer, to link this more closely to the academic surgery department, where we see major developments in the future in academic breast cancer surgery.

I think the Cancer Research UK Centres as a whole will give us a fantastic platform to make sure that we bring the basic research and the applied research within Cancer Research UK which is already at a very high level towards the clinical as quickly as possible.

There have already been several initiatives along these lines, such as the Experimental Cancer Medicine Centres, but this is really an opportunity to build on the success of that and expand it into some areas where there hasn't been the focus previously.

[In five years time] I hope we'll see an expansion of the pipeline of new immunotherapy reagents going into clinical trials and application. And furthermore we'll see a broadening of our research particularly in cancer surgery, in head and neck cancer and breast cancer, with new surgical techniques and a closer bringing together of cancer cell biology and academic surgeons.

One of the really strong points about the Centres initiative is the raising of the visibility of Cancer Research UK in our centres around the country, to make sure that not only do we bring the research into the clinic as effectively as possible, but we also raise the awareness of people who benefit from that – the people who pass through the cancer centres for their treatment.

And also that we start to raise awareness among younger people, perhaps in secondary schools, people around the universities, about the opportunities and the fantastic progress that is being made in cancer research, and try and make sure we use our centres as a way of bringing the brightest and best young people into this area."

08:00

Kat: As the weather picks up, many people think about spending some time in the garden, and where better to get some inspiration for your own back yard than the Chelsea Flower show.

This year, Cancer Research UK unveils its seventh garden at the show, paid for, as always, entirely by an anonymous donor whose gift is specifically for the garden.

The garden, designed by landscape architect Robert Myers, aims to celebrate the enormous impact we have had in beating cancer, and raise awareness of the charity's work.

I spoke to Robert, to find out more about the inspiration behind the garden, and what it's going to look like.

"The inspiration for the garden is the theme of impact, and that underlies the whole garden. We wanted the impact to be not an aggressive impact, but a more gentle one, that is pervasive through the whole garden.

So we picked up the idea of having a focal point towards the back of the garden, which is a large stone sculpture by Simon Thomas. That sits within an oval pool, and these gentle ripples emanate out from the epicentre across the garden in concentric circles, which form vertical slots in the surface of the pool – like the parting of the Red Sea.

They travel across the garden outwards, and take on the form of narrow planted strips across the paving, and when they cross a lawn they become stone strips, and then they go back to planting again. And that's generated a theme of sinuous curves and circles.

So we have slightly raised plant beds with a sinuous concrete edge that run down the length of the garden. They'll be an informal seat, containing planting. The planting is arranged in a series of layers above that. We've got a common theme of a canopy of multi-stemmed Rhus typhina, which is the Stag's Horn Sumach. That'll give us a dappled shade over the whole garden and tie it all together.

Then we have a spine of evergreen planting, picking up the theme of impact – sinuous and bubbly planting. So there will be cloud-pruned Ilex crenata, which is the Japanese holly, pruned into undulating domes. That forms the spine of the planting. Then around that we have ground cover and herbaceous plants, spiky plants to give us vertical counterpoint, a little bit of colour and quite a lot of texture.

It's rather frightening to think that we start building in about ten days time. We break ground on site and then there's a frantic two and a half weeks of building with the Queen coming to the preview on Monday 18th May, so that's a deadline like no other!

It's always very sad after the show as it's only there for a week and then it gets taken apart. But the sculpture, which is the main centrepiece of the garden, is going to be auctioned after the show in aid of Cancer Research UK, so hopefully that'll find a good home. And as much of the plant material and paving material will be reused as we can.

It's difficult to say [if we'll win a medal this year] as we've got a big pair of shoes to fill after Andy Sturgeon's last few gardens. Who knows? It's in the lap of the Gods I think."

11:30

Kat: Joanna Page is an actress best known for appearing as Stacey in the BBC TV comedy Gavin and Stacey. She's also a big fan of Race for Life, our series of 5km women-only running events that raise millions of pounds every year to support the charity's work.

Since the events started in 1994, 4 million women have taken part in total, raising a staggering £240 million towards our research.

Here's Joanna's take on Race for Life, and what it means to her.

"I took part in the Swansea Race for Life last year and it was just such an amazing event. I found it so inspiring. I took part because my Mum had breast cancer. I'd never done a 5k before, and I hadn't done much training. But you don't need to do a lot of training because you can walk, you can run, you can jog.

When I turned up, there were women there, they were in groups, they had their friends and they were just walking round in groups, chatting, and it was such a fantastic opportunity for all these women to get together and be inspired.

I was just jogging round, and when I started to feel that I was tired and I couldn't do it any more, I just looked at the back of people's T-shirts, and they had things like "I'm doing this for my mum", "I'm doing this for Dad", or "I'm doing this for Sarah". It was so inspiring, and it just makes you want to cry.

It makes you feel come on, you can do this. You can walk round, you can jog round, you can run, you can be going for a time, you can be walking round with your mum or your gran, or your friends having a chat. It just makes you feel so amazing that you are raising money for such a fantastic cause.

The tips I've got for women who are doing the Race for Life this year are: drink lots of water, put a comfy pair of shoes on, and go with a group of girls. You can either go on your own and go for a time, and run all the way round. But a good thing is to go with a group of girls and walk round together.

You can be chatting, you can be supporting each other when you feel a bit tired. But it's not difficult, because nobody's competing, everybody's just there together and supporting each other. Go round with a group of girls, put on a pink T-shirt and have fun."

Kat: There are over 200 Race for Life events taking place across the UK this summer, and we're inviting every woman to take part, whether running, walking or jogging. If you'd like to find one near you, then visit www.raceforlife.org.

13:59

Kat: We've reached the end once more so we hope you've enjoyed this month's podcast. You can keep up to date with all the latest progress in research from our Science Update blog.

And please let us know what you think of this podcast by leaving feedback on the blog, or emailing your comments to podcast@cancer.org.uk.

We'll be back next month with all the latest news from Cancer Research UK, so until then, goodbye!

 

• Credits:
• Presented and produced by Kat Arney
• News by Josephine Querido and Kat Arney
• Original music written and performed by Kat Arney and Henry Scowcroft
• With special thanks to all the participants