The project
The project aims to explore how a very targeted type of radiation therapy, proton beam therapy, can be combined with new targeted drugs soon to be implemented in clinical practise. To this end, Dr Max Nobis aims to study the combination of proton beam therapy and targeted drug therapies in primary pancreatic cancer and areas of spread in cell and animal models representing PC. By using advanced microscopy, he will image the same cancer site over time throughout treatments and monitor the treatment response in cells to assess how well it works..
What are you going to do?
Overall the project will focus on three key goals:
(1) Firstly, it will map out how pancreatic cancer cells from different patients respond to proton beam therapy.
(2) Secondly, it will test how the pancreatic tumours and their spread to organs such as the liver respond after treatment. Max will use a special screening process in live animals to study different subtypes of pancreatic cancer.
(3) Additionally, this process can then be adapted to create personalized models that match the genetic profiles of individual patients.
Why is this research important?
Currently cure rates in pancreatic cancer are very low, as most patients present with disease that cannot be removed with an operation. To help shrink the cancer away from important nearby structures such as blood vessels and to kill cancer cells that have spread around the body, better treatments are needed before operations. The combination of proton beam therapy and drug treatments may be a useful way to achieve this. Proton beam therapy is of particular interest compared to standard X-ray based radiotherapy, as it can target the cancer more accurately and give much lower doses to nearby organs, such as bowel, that are at risk of damage.
How do I get involved?
This is open to anyone affected by pancreatic cancer including patients, survivors, carers and loved ones
No scientific background or prior experience is needed to take part in this opportunity.
This involves reading their document and answering some questions on it. This is completed anonymously and electronically. If you are interested in taking part please email the Research Team (research@pancreaticcancer.org.uk) quoting the involvement reference ‘Nobis document review’
