Pancreatic Cancer Research in the UK
Pancreatic Cancer causes 5% of deaths from cancer but only received 1% of cancer research funding ( NCRI Strategic Analysis 2002) in the UK. This needs to increase to ensure better outcomes for patients. More information on the need for more research can be found on our motivation page. This page provides some information on research that is being undertaken in the UK. Information on some of the progress that has been made can be found on our progress page and reports of the European Pancreatic Club meetings. Over the past few years there has been an increase in emphasis on research on pancreatic cancer in the UK. This page attempts to reference some of that work. Work is funded by a number of sources and is undertaken in dedicated research centres, hospitals, universities and companies some of which are off-shoots from universities such as Oxford Biomedica.
School of Cancer Studies and Division of Surgery and Oncology, University of Liverpool
Professor John Neoptolemos heads the
School of Cancer Studies and the
Division of Surgery and Oncology at the University of Liverpool as well as the Liverpool Cancer Trials Unit and the Liverpool Experimental Cancer Medicine Centre. They undertake extensive research and trials in pancreatic cancer. They have also recently been appointed an NHS National Institute for Health Research Biomedical Research Unit for research into Pancreatic Digestive Diseases covering both pancreatitis and pancreatic cancer.
Institute of Cancer and Cancer Research UK Clinical Centre at Barts and the London
Professor Nick Lemoine is the Director of both the Institute of Cancer and the Cancer Research UK Clinical Centre, having joined Barts and The London in April 2004. He also leads the Centre for Molecular Oncology & Imaging. Some of the research work within those centres is directed specifically towards pancreatic cancer and receives funding from many sources. Professor Lemoine's personal research interests include molecular genetic analysis of pancreatic cancer and gene therapy. The Molecular Pathology Laboratory, which he headed at Hammersmith Hospital, moved with him to the Charterhouse Square site and also aims to identify molecular biomarkers of disease progression and treatment response.
Cancer Research UK Cambridge Research Institute
Dr David Tuvescon leads the Tumour Modelling & Experimental Medicine (Pancreatic Cancer) group at the new CRUK Cambridge Research Institute
University College London
Dr Steve Pereira, Dr John Timms and Dr Mark Weeks are undertaking research to produce valuable data that could be ultimately translated into the clinic in the form of blood tests for the diagnosis of pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC). Interrogation of UKCTOCS serum bank for existing and novel markers of Pancreatic Ductal Adenocarcinoma (PDAC). The National Medical Laser Centre undertakes research on Photodynamic Therapy ie treatment of tumours by laser. Initial trials showed that lasers could shrink pancreatic tumours in the use of Photodynamic therapy for cancer of the pancreas
Royal Marsden Hospital
Under Professor David Cunningham the Royal Marsden Hospital in conjunction with the Institute of Cancer Research has run and is running a number of clinical trials in pancreatic cancer.
St George's Hospital Medical School
The Division of Oncology at St George's Hospital Medical School undertakes some limited research on pancreatic cancer under
Professor Angus Dalgleish . Some of this work led to trials of Retinoic Acid in combination with chemotherapy to see if it increases sensitivity. Professor Dalgleish's main area of interest is immunotherapy and he was involved in a pilot trial of the Thalidomide Analogue Revimid on solid tumours including pancreatic cancer.
Oxford Biomedica plc
Oxford Biomedica plc is an off-shoot of Oxford University and has developed MetXia. MetXia is a gene therapy which that has received approval from the UK's Gene Therapy Advisory Committee ("GTAC") to enter a two-stage Phase I/II clinical trial in patients with pancreatic cancer. Two leading clinical centres in Liverpool and Leicester supported this regulatory application and plan to commence recruitment. Trials are running at the Royal Liverpool University Hospital and Leicester and will be managed within the Department of Surgery, Liverpool University. Part I to select gene level has been sucessfully completed and Part II to select doseage of chemotherapy will be opening to recruitment shortly.
Leicester General and Royal Infirmary Hospitals
Within the Surgical Oncology section of the Institute of Cancer Studies the Hepatobiliary and Pancreatic Cancer Research Groups at the Leicester General and Royal Infirmary Hospitals are working on the detection of pancreatic cancer. In the area of pancreatic cancer one of the major problems today facing Gastroenterologists, Surgeons and Oncologists is proving that abnormal areas in the pancreas on scans are due to cancer and not some other abnormal process. The Leicester General group is working together with colleagues at the University of Adelaide Department of Surgery, Australia, on a new scan which should be able to predict with high accuracy whether any abnormal area is due to malignancy.
National Research Register
The National Research Register lists ongoing and recently completed research projects funded by, or of interest to, the United Kingdom's National Health Service. By clicking on search and then entering pancreatic, pancreatic cancer or pancreas in the search box on the next page on their web-site you can find listings of many trials and research projects in the UK relating to pancreatic cancer.
UK Clinical Research Network Portfolio Database
The Department of Health has announced its intention to integrate the functions of the National Research Register (NRR) into the United Kingdom Clinical Research Network's (UKCRN) Portfolio Database. This migration is part of the NIHR Information Systems Programme. The NRR will be maintained in its present format until the end of 2007 as the migration to new systems takes place.
International Cancer Research Portfolio
International Cancer Research Portfolio includes the NCRI Cancer Research Database. Click on advanced search and select all available years ie 2000-2005, United Kingdom and pancreatic cancer to find some of the UK research projects on pancreatic cancer.
European Collaborative Research on Pancreatic Cancer
The European Union has become an important source of funding for scientific research for member states. The UK government contributes to the EU research budget and the Framework Programmes for Research and Technological Development are the EU's main instruments for supporting collaborative research, development and innovations in science, engineering and technology.
The European Union has been funding collaborative research on pancreatic cancer amongst research groups in many European countries for a number of years. This work has included the teams under Professor Neoptolemos at the University of Liverpool and Professor Lemoine at St Barts and the London (formerly Imperial College). This concerted action was named the "European Pancreatic Cancer Research Cooperative" and has received funding under frameworks programmes 3,5 and 6. In 2004 they produced a book providing an overview on the state of translational approaches to pancreatic cancer called "Exocrine Pancreas Cancer" edited by T.M. Greiss, J.P.Neoptolemos, N.R.Lemoine and F.X. Real (ISBN 3-00-016372-7).
European Pancreatic Cancer Network
Between 2002 and 2005 they funded the Framework 5 project
From candidate genes to medical applications
(EU-FP5-project: QLG1-CT-2002-01196) In previous years and in ongoing projects members of this Concerted Action had used various molecular techniques to identify candidate disease genes for pancreatic cancer by use of genomics, proteomics and transcriptomics. This consortium had the largest collection of candidate disease genes for pancreatic cancer in Europe, if not in the world. The major objective of the years to come is to validate these genes and to select those that contribute to the pathogenesis of pancreatic cancer and are suitable targets for medical applications. The Framework 5 project has now completed. project web-site (removed?)
The Framework 5 work is being continued in the period April 2006 to March 2009 with an EU funded framework 6 project with a budget of 8.5million Euros. The consortium of 18 European institutions, companies and research groups again includes the teams at the University of Liverpool and St Barts/Queen Mary University of London. The project is called "Novel molecular diagnotic tools for the prevention and diagnosis of pancreatic cancer (MolDiag-Paca)". See their press release(pdf) and description of the project
on their web-site
for more information. The project aims to develop innovative strategies for early and accurate diagnosis of pancreatic cancer. The MolDiag-Paca Integrated Project proposes to develop novel molecular diagnostic approaches for the prevention, early diagnosis and risk stratification of pancreatic cancer. Based on large scale transcriptome, genome and proteome analyses, novel molecular techniques will be developed for the detection of cancer cells or preneoplastic cells in minimal amounts of clinical tissue (fine needle biopsies) or fluid (pancreatic/duodenal juice or serum) samples. Novel tools will include transcript and epigentic analyses, chip technology, single or multiple marker protein studies, DNA/RNA PCR analyses, serum proteomics and molecular imaging. The project benefits from large multinational European trials such as ESPAC or EUROPAC. At the end clinical trials of novel diagnostic tools developed should be initiated.
More information will become available on the project web-site
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