It is the first physical institute in the UK dedicated to understanding early cancer.
Professor Rebecca Fitzgerald, the institute’s Director, said: “People have tended to shy away from researching early cancer, but unless we do this work we are not going to improve survival rates for the majority of our patients, because most patients are still diagnosed late. Outcomes can be completely transformed if the cancer is diagnosed early enough and we have the right treatments.”
The institute will house as many as 120 researchers – from biologists and clinicians to engineers, physicists and social sciences – who will focus on cancers that are hard to treat and as such have very poor outcomes, including lung, pancreas, oesophagus and liver cancers, and acute myeloid leukaemia. Outcomes for these cancers have changed little over the past few years.
Professor Fitzgerald added: “Cambridge has a rich history of making huge strides in cancer research, from developing the technology that allows us to sequence the DNA of tumours through to pioneering new approaches to treatments, such as the use of monoclonal antibodies and PARP inhibitor drugs. We want to build on this legacy of discovery and innovation and apply it to early cancer.”
Among the research projects that will take place within the Institute are:
Professor Serena Nik-Zainal will use whole genome sequencing to look for ‘fingerprints’ on the DNA of tumours that give clues to how a cancer arose. She has already carried out significant work on developed tumours and now hopes to apply this to pre-cancer.
Dr Jamie Blundell will look at the ‘fossil records’ in blood samples of patients who went on to develop acute myeloid leukaemia (AML) to try to understand how blood cancers emerge and spread.
Dr Matt Hoare will try to find out why genetic mutations in chronic liver disease significantly increase the risk of primary liver cancer, one of the only cancers whose rate is increasing in the UK, driven by rising levels of type 2 diabetes and obesity.
Dr Daniel Munoz-Espin is interested in the ‘microenvironment’ around tumours and how we might harness senescence – one of the body’s damage limitation mechanisms – to eliminate tumour cells in lung cancer.
According to Fitzgerald, this is one of only four life sciences ecosystems in the world – and the largest in Europe – that provide the capability, critical mass, and integration of science and medicine to transform patient care. Fitzgerald and her team have set themselves an ambitious goal.
A new hospital – the Cambridge Cancer Research Hospital, which could begin construction work late next year – is also planned for the campus. Discoveries and innovations emerging from the Early Cancer Institute will underpin much of the research and treatment that takes place there and beyond and will be complemented by a dedicated space in the hospital.
Fitzgerald is currently fundraising to help upgrade the facilities in the Hutchison Building, where the Institute is based, and to enable her team to attract more early career researchers. Their fundraising target of £20 million may sound ambitious, but then so is the goal of the Institute.
“We’re working to move the world beyond the fear of cancer,” said Fitzgerald.
