An eminent philanthropist and three time cancer survivor Dr James Hull has joined forces with six universities across the country to investigate why cancer returns in some people and not others.
Focusing on patients who have had successful treatment of advanced cancer and in whom the cancer has not reoccurred for at least 5 years, researchers from the University of Surrey, University of Oxford, Cardiff University, Swansea University, University of Manchester and University of Nottingham, as part of the Continuum Long-term Survivor study, will undertake non-invasive investigations of each individuals’ immune systems and tumor cells to identify any unique features which could explain why they have remained cancer free.
Researchers believe that these patients may have proteins on the surface of their tumors which their immune system mistakes as an infection and subsequently destroys the tumor as if fighting an infection. Findings from this study could help revolutionize immunotherapy treatment by targeting different proteins on cancer cells, potentially eliminating cancer recurrence in patients.
As part of this groundbreaking work, researchers will also be examining the composition of bacteria in the stool of long term survivors. Emerging evidence suggests that bacteria in stool may affect the workings of our immune system and its effectiveness in dealing with infections. Researchers hypothesize that the survivors will have a different composition of bacteria in their bowel than healthy volunteers and those currently with cancer.