The MKMRF are delighted to announce the recipient of this years £100,00 Award is Dr SamJanes, Senior Lecturer and Honorary Consultant at University College London.
Research Study:
Treating Malignant Mesothelioma with Stem Cells
Despite major advances in several cancers over the past thirty years mesothelioma is still incurable and all those affected will die of the disease.
Dr Janes has recently demonstrated that Mesenchymal Stem Cells (MSC) usually found in bone marrow preferentially travel to and integrate into tumours where they form some of the infrastructure called stoma. He has shown in a mestastic lung cancer that these cells can deliver a therapy to the tumour cells that result in the death of tumour cells but not the normal surrounding tissue cells.
He now wants to deliver this therapy to Mesothelioma. Using this system in another tumour initial experiments to control the growth of tumours has in almost 40% of cases eliminate them. If successful this may introduce a new era of treatments for Mesothelioma patients.
Mesothelioma is particularly suitable to this type of therapy because the cells can be delivered by a tube directly into the chest avoiding problems encountered in trying to target other cancer cells around the body.
September 2009:
MKMRF are delighted to announce the recipient of this years £100,00 Award is Dr SamJanes, Senior Lecturer and Honorary Consultant at University College London.
Research Study:Treating Malignant Mesothelioma with Stem Cells
Despite major advances in several cancers over the past thirty years mesothelioma is still incurable and all those affected will die of the disease.
Dr Janes has recently demonstrated that Mesenchymal Stem Cells (MSC) usually found in bone marrow preferentially travel to and integrate into tumours where they form some of the infrastructure called stoma. He has shown in a mestastic lung cancer that these cells can deliver a therapy to the tumour cells that result in the death of tumour cells but not the normal surrounding tissue cells.
He now wants to deliver this therapy to Mesothelioma. Using this system in another tumour initial experiments to control the growth of tumours has in almost 40% of cases eliminate them. If successful this may introduce a new era of treatments for Mesothelioma patients.
Mesothelioma is particularly suitable to this type of therapy because the cells can be delivered by a tube directly into the chest avoiding problems encountered in trying to target other cancer cells around the body.
Dr Albiruni Ryan Abdul Razak, Specialist Registrar in Medical Oncology
Scientific Title: Evaluation of the role of folate receptor alpha and methylthioadenosine phosphorylase in determining the response of malignant pleural mesothelioma to treatment with pemetrexed-containing chemotherapy.
Amount awarded: £87,395
Duration: 24 months
The study at the Northern Institute for Cancer Research will develop tests of mesothelioma samples to find out which patients will benefit from the drug pemetrexed (Alimta) in combination with a platinum drug.. The research will help to understand why only some people with mesothelioma respond to Alimta. This will help establish at the time of diagnosis whether a patient is likely to respond or whether they should be offered an alternative treatment.
The data collected will help to identify what makes mesothelioma resistant to treatment and therefore direct new research into new drugs to treat the disease. The research will be supervised by the Centre’s Director, Professor Hilary Calvert who led the team that develop Alimta If successful it will make the treatment more cost effective, one of the issues concerning NICE decision while giving those suffering from the illness a much better quality of life for longer.
