TRACERx
Lung cancer is the third most common cancer in the UK with over 47,000 people diagnosed each year and is the most common cause of cancer-related death worldwide with over 1.6 million deaths per year. Non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), where the survival rate is only 5%, is responsible for 80-85% of all lung cancer cases.
The landmark Cancer Research UK’s£14million TRAcking Cancer Evolution through therapy (Rx) (TRACERx) lung cancer studies, led by Professor Charles Swanton, have generated enormous insights into tumour genetic heterogeneity, tumour evolution, the development of metastatic disease and how these factors impacts on the response to therapy.
The study involves scientists in the Cancer Institute at UCL and the Crick Institute, and investigators at 13 other UK hospital sites and tracks the evolution of 850 patients’ non-small cell lung cancers over time, from different parts of their tumours and in response to treatment.
Achilles Therapeutics
Achilles Therapeutics (“Achilles”) is a clinical stage biopharmaceutical UCL/UCLH spin out company developing novel cancer immunotherapies targeting clonal neoantigens T cells (cNET therapy). These are protein markers, unique to each individual, that are expressed on the surface of every cancer cell.
Achilles uses DNA sequencing data from each patient, to identify clonal neoantigens specific to that patient and enable the development of personalised cell therapies. Targeting multiple clonal neoantigens that are present on all cancer cells, but not on healthy cells, allows individualised treatments to target and destroy tumours without harming healthy tissues. Achilles is developing and commercialising neo-antigen technologies arising from the TRACERx study above.
International Collaborations
Our international collaborations are exemplified by our membership of the International Alliance for Cancer Early Diagnosis (ACED). We are collaborating with Stanford University and Oregon Health & Science University to inform the integration of advanced imaging techniques and non-imaging biomarkers (e.g. blood, urine) for early cancer detection. The UCL ACED centre is led by Professor Mark Emberton (Dean, UCL Faculty of Medical Sciences) and hosts 24 co-investigators across UCL and partner NHS trusts, with access to over 200,000 patients for clinical trials.
The ongoing Re-IMAGINE trial led by Professor Emberton has demonstrated that magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) of the prostate combined with urine tests is 100% better at identifying men at risk compared to the standard prostate biopsy.
