Defeating Cancer

The BBC’s science programme “Horizon” this week showed the ground breaking UK work by the Institute of Cancer Research and Royal Marsden Hospital in the latest treatments of cancer. A truly inspirational programme that showed where funds raised by the Dallaglio Flintoff 2012 Cycle Slam will be used.

You can see the programme on the BBC iPlayer.

As well as following three patients who were part of clinical trials for new treatments at the London hospital, the programme also explored the complex science behind the latest cancer treatments. This showed the three parallel advances that are being made by the scientists and doctors:

• a system providing advanced 3-D radiotherapy treatments;
• a surgical robot enabling pinpoint accurate internal surgery;
• and molecular DNA advances that mean existing cancers can be treated by drugs.

Each of these initiatives addresses a different perspective of tackling cancer. Once the disease is detected, then radiotherapy is used to kill the cancerous cells. The problem is that X-rays cannot distinguish between good cells and the cancerous bad cells, meaning that accurate targeting is essential. This latest machine literally operates in 3-D, zapping the cancerous cells from 100 different angles.

Next when surgery is necessary, the key requirement is pinpoint accuracy in surgical process. The device used was a throwback to research work first initiated by NASA, where they wanted to build a robot in a space station that could be controlled by a surgeon on the ground! This latest version allowed a surgeon to remove a cancerous prostrate with such accuracy that the patient could leave hospital just 24 hours later.

The third scenario tackles the situation where the disease has already spread, and the treatment is to restrict the growth of these secondary tumours. We saw how scientists investigated the B-Raf gene, discovered the way it mutated and designed a drug to combat that mutation. In effect a medical detective story searching for a way to crack a unique DNA code.

Like all well made documentaries, the human interest was the fact that ordinary, genuine and likeable people were now able to receive these ground breaking treatments. For me, the message of hope that this provides was summed up by the clinician who has to tell patients their results. He said that, with previous treatments, 8 out of 10 times he had to give the patient the news that the disease was spreading. Now with these new drugs, that would be reversed, and 8 out of 10 times he would be able to give the patient the news that their cancer was being defeated. Patients able to live with the disease, not die from it. Amazing!

Now all this research comes with a price tag. And that is where the Dallaglio Foundation can help. By donating to the Cycle Slam, the work of the ICR and Royal Marsden will be continued, developing new treatments for prostrate cancer.

Please donate now if you can. Together we can defeat cancer.

Prostrate Cancer Research – how we can make a difference

The work of the prostrate cancer research team, being funded by the Dallaglio Flintoff 2012 Cycle Slam, has just been recognised as global award winners for their work. They are making a difference. By supporting me, you can too.

Last week I noticed some posters relating to the ‘out of the blue’ March 2012 campaign promoting prostrate cancer. This disease is the most common cancer in men, particularly affecting those aged over 50. Often men have no signs or symptoms and little awareness of a disease that kills 10,000 in the UK every year, with over 250,000 men currently living with the prostrate cancer.

The technical aspects of this disease are that only men have a prostate gland, which is usually the size and shape of a walnut. It lies underneath the bladder and surrounds the urethra through which we pass urine and semen. In terms of how the cancer forms, normally the growth of all cells is carefully controlled in the body. As cells die, they are replaced in an orderly fashion with healthy replacements. However, cancer can develop when cells start to grow in an uncontrolled way. The following video explains how to become aware of the symptoms of prostrate cancer.

The current stats are that one in nine men is likely to get prostate cancer, with 36,000  cases diagnosed each year. In terms of the most at risk group, then it mainly affects men over 50. As I reach that milestone this year, this is quite a sobering thought. But the good news is that, for many, prostate cancer is actually slow-growing initially and may never cause any problems or symptoms in a man’s lifetime. You die ‘with it’, rather than ‘of it’. However, some men will have cancer that is more aggressive. This needs timely treatment to help prevent or delay it spreading outside the prostate gland.

For the Dallaglio Flintoff Cycle Slam 2012, the Dallaglio Foundation is choosing to support the Cancer Research UK funded ICGC project on prostate cancer genetics. This important initiative will read the complete genetic codes of 250 prostate cancer patients. The results will mean that scientists can better differentiate between the fast and the slow growing tumours which in turn, will help to build a new era of personalised medicine. Armed with this new genetic blueprint, doctors will be better able to pick out and target those genes that are causing the aggressive types of prostate cancer with new treatments. Ground breaking research, that will hopefully lower future mortality rates.

In the UK, it is the Institute of Cancer Research (ICR) and The Royal Marsden NHS Foundation Trust who are leading the prostate cancer ICGC project. For me personally, this is very reassuring as back in 1979, when I was just 17, my father was successfully treated for testicular cancer by the team at the Royal Marsden.

The really, really good news is that these research teams have just been recognised by winning a prestigious global award for success in taking new cancer drugs from concept to patients. This is the first time the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) Team Science Award has been won outside the US.

Through the Dallaglio Foundation, this is the focus of my own fund-raising activities. How encouraging is it, that through your support, we will be able to invest in such pioneering work of a world leading British research team? They are making a difference, now we can too.

This is what the Cycle Slam is all about.