8th NCRI Cancer Conference

Dr Michel Coleman talks to ecancer at the 8th NCRI Cancer Congress in Liverpool about the disparities of cancer mortality and incidence across the globe. Dr Coleman highlights the EUROCARE study and the effect cancer has on undeveloped and developed countries and the main issues involved in decreasing mortality, such as screening and methods of detection and the ability for quicker drug developments.

Sir Michael Richards talks with ecancer at the 2012 NCRI meeting in Liverpool, UK about the use of cancer registry data. The importance and complexity of these databases stems from the large number of types of inequalities that can arise; for example age and race, and in terms of the different types of cancer. The large complexities this presents shows the need for larger global registries to house data for analysis.

Prof Kenneth Anderson speaks to ecancer.tv about the substantial advances that have been made in the availability of haemato-oncological treatments. Prof Anderson also outlines promising new research looking at the inhibition of proteasomes and aggresomes and discusses the importance of the patient microenvironment, the role this plays in cancer progression and the way that this can be targeted to improve treatment.

Dr Herbie Newell discusses the development of cancer treatments and the role that partnerships between academia and the pharmaceutical industry have to play in this process. Dr Newell explains how the appropriate use of biomarkers could decrease the time taken to bring a new treatment to market, outlines the drug targets that he expects to be important in future cancer treatment and considers the role that the MDM-p53 signalling pathway could play in the development of epigenetic drug targets.

Cancer incidence and mortalities in patients over 75 years of age is higher in the UK than other western European countries. Dr Tony Moran suggests that this may be linked to a lack of awareness leading to late diagnosis or to the under-treatment of physically fit elderly patients who could tolerate more intensive programmes

Dr Rachel Iredale discusses Tenovus’ new call-back service offering support to patients undergoing treatment for any type of cancer. In a recent pilot study specialist nurses contacted patients after one week, one month, and after six months in order to answer any questions patient may have and to provide psycho-social support. Following the success of this pilot programme, it has now been rolled out across Wales.

Prof Malcolm Mason speaks to ecancer.tv about the developments that have been made in the understanding and treatment of prostate cancer, explains the importance of androgen in prostate cancer and considers the possibility of a future cure for prostate cancer. Prof Mason concludes by discusses other new treatment techniques such as radio-surgery and robotic surgery and talks about the questions that remain over the use of PSA screening.

Dr Paul Pharoah discusses research assessing genetic material from several hundred cancer patients across world. This study has identified many new genetic sub-types associated with breast, ovarian and prostate cancer risk and has many potential clinical benefits such as improvements in the effectiveness of breast or prostate cancer screening programmes or the identification of new targets for personalised medicines.

Dr Reg Race discusses a large scale national survey of cancer patients. The survey asked patients about various aspects, including the earliest symptoms they experienced before they were diagnosed, how their health status has progressed after is extensive treatment, how satisfied they were with the standard of care and about the level of communication from care staff. The results have shown substantial improvements in the standard of care offered since 2010 and has demonstrated clear patterns in the symptoms and experiences of patients suffering from different cancer types.

Dr Michael Sawyer explains that chemotherapy toxicities are related to patient lean body mass and suggests that this may explain the discrepancies that have traditionally been observed in the adverse effects experienced by male and female patients undergoing chemotherapy. Dr Sawyer’s study also concluded that gastrointestinal and lung cancer patients with a low lean body mass had a lower survival rate, and experienced higher levels of toxicities.

Tom Haswell discusses how he has progressed from being diagnosed with serious lung cancer to becoming involved in various patient groups, working to improve the available of treatment options and helping to improve the standard of care offered to patients in future. Mr Haswell outlines the increase in patient involvement he has seen and stresses the advantages patients can experience taking part in clinical trials.

Shirley Harrison speaks to ecancer.tv about her experiences participating in clinical trials, and discusses how she became involved in patient liaison groups and research committees. As a former patient, Ms Harrison is able to offer a patients perspective and ensure that clinicians and researchers understand the benefits and concerns perceive by patients.

Prof Wendy Demark-Wahnefried discusses the evidence that diet and exercise benefit cancer patients. Whilst it is known that patients who are overweight at diagnosis have a much worse prognosis it is not yet understood if weight loss after the point of diagnosis will improve prognosis, however, there is evidence to show that weight loss after diagnosis does decrease the likelihood of cardio-vascular disease or secondary cancer. Prof Demark-Wahnefried explains the benefits of half an hour of daily exercise in terms of cardio-vascular disease, diabetes and secondary cancer incidence and outlines observational evidence which suggest that exercise may prevent cancer incidence.

Richard Stephens talks to ecancer.tv about the reasons why patients may choose to participate in clinical trials, and the way that such trials can benefit not just these patients, but many more patients in the future. Mr Stephens explains that all patients have the right to participate in clinical trials if they wish, outlines the advantages of these trials but also warns of the associated extra commitments.

Dr Jean-Francois Dufour discusses the management of hepatocellular carcinoma and explains which preventative measures are being used to reduce the incidence of this disease. Dr Dufour explains what factors are important in tumour assessment, how patients can be stratified based on these assessments, and how each of these different patient sub-groups should be treated. The outcomes of some key clinical trials assessing different treatment options are discussed and areas are highlighted where available treatment options are insufficient.

Dr Ian Lewis speaks to ecancer.tv about a recent initiative where patients contribute to assessment of funding bids submitted to Tenovus. Following a survey carried out in Tenovus stores across England and Wales asking what customers thought should be the priorities of Tenovus funding, a panel was set up consisting of patients, carers and other people who have been affected by cancer. Dr Lewis discusses how the panel has successfully assessed clinical trial funding bids and explains how the project will be improved and expanded in the future.

Dr Lodewyk Wessels discusses an initiative set up by the Netherland Cancer Institute and the Welcome Trust Sanger Institute working to assess the susceptibility of different cancer cell lines to different drugs. This project is aimed to establish biomarkers for drug susceptibility helping to identify which patients will show drug resistant and potentially helping clinicians understand and overcome this resistance. Dr Wessels outlines the findings so far, and explains what implications this work could have on future treatment programmes.

Dr Mari Lloyd-Williams outlines the key findings of a study assessing the level of depression in patients with serious cancer. The study, carried out by the Academic Palliative and Supportive Care Studies Group at the University of Liverpool, found that depression was an important symptom in a third of patients and patients with depression had lower survival rates. Dr Lloyd Williams discusses the implications of the findings and considers the potential role of alternative therapies in the treatment of depression.

Dr Judy Garber outlines some of the genes that have recently been connected with cancer prevalence, and explains the implications of these newly identified cancer sub-types. Dr Garber also considers the potential benefits of gene sequencing but warns of the potentially prohibitive cost of personalised medicines.

Dr Johannes Burg explains that cancer survivors who exercise regularly live longer. There is a growing body of evidence which suggests that regular exercise is beneficial in terms of cancer prevention, rehabilitation after cancer and in terms of patient survival. Dr Burg discusses this and explains the need for randomised trials to evaluate this more thoroughly.

Adrienne Morgan talks to ecancer.tv about tissue donation and the way this benefits patients. As an oncological researcher who contracted metastatic breast cancer, Ms Morgan explains the importance of clinical trials and emphasises the standard of care offered to patients who take part.