Cancer Research UK and its commercial arm, Cancer Research Technology (CRT), have joined forces with biomarker validation company Abcodia and the UK Collaborative Trial for Ovarian Cancer Screening (UKCTOCS) biobank to develop new blood tests to detect a range of cancers at a very early stage.
The alliance will focus on biomarkers to detect cancers before patients develop symptoms in cancers for which there are limited screening tests, like non-small cell lung cancer.
The partnership will use samples from the biobank derived from UKCTOCS, which is led by BRC-supported Professor Usha Menon, Professor of Gynaecological Cancer at the UCL Elizabeth Garrett Anderson Institute of Women’s Health and Professor Ian Jacobs’ (honorary UCL Professor of Gynaecological Cancer and the first director of our BRC).
Professor Menon said: “We are committed to ensuring that the samples from women taking part in UKCTOCS have generously donated are put to the best possible use. This new collaboration expands the ability of researchers and industry to access the bank to develop novel early detection strategies for cancer.”
Professor Jacobs said: "I’m delighted that the biobank developed through UKCTOCS will be used for such an important collaborative venture which has potential to yield important discoveries and to benefit patients through early detection across a range of cancers."
Detecting cancer earlier will give doctors the best chance to treat cancer effectively, before the disease develops and spreads when it becomes more difficult to treat. Identifying patients at an early stage will also provide the scientific and pharmaceutical communities with the ability to select patients for the development of a new generation of anti-cancer medicines.
The biobank has more than five million serum samples from over 200,000 women. The samples in the collection have been taken from healthy people annually and in many cases, up to 10 years prior to a cancer diagnosis. The collaboration will use these samples to select biomarkers which provide a clear indication of change in the early pre-diagnosis stages of disease.
UKCTOCS is funded by Medical Research Council, Cancer Research UK and the Department of Health with additional support from the Eve Appeal, Special Trustees of Bart’s and the London, and Special Trustees of University College London Hospitals (UCLH). The coordinating centre at UCL was supported by the BRC.
Dr Julie Barnes, Abcodia’s CEO, said: “We are delighted to be able to work with Cancer Research UK and CRT in this new global venture. The early diagnosis of cancer has never been more important and with the collective expertise that this alliance can bring, we aim to make a real difference in the field of early cancer detection and screening.”
The alliance is seeking partnerships to develop markers, especially those that may be expressed in serum; for example, proteins, microRNAs, cell-derived vesicles, autoantibodies and DNA methylation.
Dr Harpal Kumar, Cancer Research UK’s chief executive, said: “The combination of expertise formed by this partnership provides a great opportunity to accelerate this vital biomarker research, which we hope will help save thousands of lives from cancer. Earlier detection of cancer remains a huge challenge but also a tremendous opportunity. We know that for most types of cancer, the earlier we detect them, the greater the chance of being able to treat them effectively and successfully. Furthermore, treating earlier stage disease is usually associated with fewer side effects from treatment for our patients. The scope and scale of this alliance, aimed at developing new tests for a range of cancers at their earliest stage, before symptoms develop, is very exciting.”
