Cancer Information - Cancer Research UK

Celebrating International Clinical Trials Day

Posted on May 20, 2013 by Deborah Rodbard

We’ve written many times about clinical trials on this blog. Trials tell us which treatments work, and their results boost the progress we’re making in helping to improve cancer survival.

We’re writing about them again now because today is International Clinical Trials Day. As we discussed last year, this commemorates the day back in the 18^th century when a doctor called James Lind began trials to try and find out what caused scurvy.

Clinical trials have developed a great deal since then – here’s a short video about taking part in a clinical trial:

Watch the video on YouTube

There are various activities taking place this week to celebrate International Clinical Trials Day.

For example, Cancer Research UK’s research nurses will be arranging events at hospitals across the UK. Many clinical trials of new treatments would simply not be able to run without these specialist nurses, who play a vital role in making sure cancer patients have access to promising cancer treatments. Cancer Research UK funds more than 200 research nurses around the country.

As well as this, The National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) has launched a campaign called It’s OK to Ask, encouraging patients to ask questions that will help to keep research at the top of the NHS agenda.

But we also wanted to use today to highlight a unique resource for UK cancer patients – our clinical trials database.

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I want to break free – the microenvironment and metastasis

Posted on February 11, 2013 by Safia Danovi

This entry is part 4 of 4 in our Microenvironment series

Cancer spread is a huge challenge for patients, doctors and researchers.

No man is an island, and the same can be said of tumour cells. Previous posts in our ‘microenvironment’ series have discussed how the cells and structures around a tumour – known collectively as its microenvironment – are crucial to its survival.

In this article we explore how tumours draft in these surrounding cells to break free and spread to other parts of the body.

This process of cancer spread (or metastasis) is a huge problem for cancer patients and their doctors; most deaths from cancer are caused by the disease spreading around the body. So understanding how cancer cells break free from the confines of the primary tumour and move around the body is a crucial question for scientists.

And the more we learn, the more we realise that developing the ability to spread is no easy feat for tumours – they wouldn’t get anywhere without a helping hand. So here, we’ll learn about how their healthy neighbours send them on their way.

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Science fact or science fiction? Making sense of cancer stories in the media

Posted on October 4, 2012 by Kat Arney

The media is full of stories about cancer

Cancer is a hot topic in the media, from headlines about the latest cancer-fighting ‘superfood’ to scare stories about the causes of cancer.

And hardly a week goes by without a front page dedicated to a potential “wonder drug” or new treatment.

And it’s no surprise – most of us have been touched by cancer in some way or other, so there’s a big appetite for news. But this wealth of information can be overwhelming – and can sometimes seem contradictory.

Is red wine good or bad for us? Just how much broccoli should we eat? And why does it take so long for headline-grabbing “breakthroughs” to result in better cancer treatments?

It can sometimes seem that scientists don’t know what they’re talking about, or that everything is over-hyped. How do you know what to believe?

For a start, at Cancer Research UK, we provide authoritative, evidence-based information about cancer, written by experts. Our award-winning patient information website, CancerHelp UK helps people find out more about cancer treatments and symptoms, as well as risks and causes. And this blog, as well as our news feed, aim to provide accurate and balanced coverage of the latest news stories and advances in cancer research.

The NHS Choices’ Behind the Headlines blog also covers cancer stories in the news in depth.

But how do you work out whether a cancer story in the media is a reasonable and accurate reflection of a new discovery, or has fallen victim to hype?

Let’s look in a bit more depth at how research works, and how to look behind the headlines.

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Cancer death rates continue to fall

Posted on September 25, 2012 by Henry Scowcroft

Today our stats team has published new data, forecasting that the proportion of people who die from cancer will continue to fall over the next 18 years.

Rather than penning another 1,000 word treatise on the matter, we thought we’d try something a bit different: presenting the results as an animated video:

(Here’s a transcript for anyone who can’t watch the video – there are some graphs further down the page too).

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Parliamentarians discuss life-saving medical data

Posted on July 12, 2012 by Jennifer Boon

Professor Nic Jones talks to parliamentarians at the reception

Every time you use the NHS, your medical records are updated, and this information is stored in a variety of places around the health service.

And every time someone’s diagnosed with cancer, information about their progress is recorded in the UK’s cancer registries.

Collectively, this information is of huge value to researchers, who can put it to a whole range of uses – from recruiting people onto clinical trials to discovering more about the causes of cancer.

But there are also big issues around confidentiality and access.

Exactly how, when and by whom health data is accessed needs to be carefully regulated. And on the flip side, over-regulation can hinder progress and slow life-saving research. It’s a tricky balancing act that needs careful thought and consideration.

Yesterday, researchers, politicians and patient representatives gathered together in Parliament to celebrate the progress being made in research using patient data and to discuss issues around access and regulation.

The reception, ‘How data saves lives – Unlocking the research potential of information’, was organised by the All Party Parliamentary Group on Medical Research and hosted by Liberal Democrat peer Lord Willis of Knaresborough, who’s also chair of the Association of Medical Research Charities (of which Cancer Research UK is a member).

Representatives of all the main political parties were present, as researchers displayed posters and talked about their work, and Professor Nic Jones, our chief scientist, was there to represent Cancer Research UK’s point of view.

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Cancer intelligence: mission possible

Posted on June 20, 2012 by Josephine Querido

The National Cancer Intelligence Network had its annual conference last week

Imagine a future where you can go online and compare which hospital is the best in your area to treat your type of cancer.

A future where, as a cancer patient, you have all the information you need to be an equal in the decision-making process about your treatment.A future where you can go online to book a screening appointment – and find out your results.

That future is coming – and it’s not as far away as you might think.

This was the message coming loud and clear from this year’s National Cancer Intelligence Network (NCIN) conference, held in Birmingham last week.

Five hundred delegates came together – including statisticians, GPs, cancer specialists, researchers, policy makers and, importantly, nearly 100 cancer patients or carers – to hear the latest progress being made in ‘cancer intelligence’.

And by ‘intelligence’, we mean in the James Bond-sense of the word: knowing everything there is to know about our enemy – cancer. That means knowing everything about each person’s cancer journey, from before they are diagnosed, right through their treatment, their follow-up, and anything that happens after that.

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Spotting cancer early – our partnership with Tesco

Posted on March 6, 2012 by Nell Barrie

Diagnosing cancer early saves lives

If cancer is diagnosed early, it’s nearly always easier to treat successfully. But too many cancers are still diagnosed at a late stage – thousands of lives could be saved in the UK if more cancers were spotted early.

We’re working hard to solve this problem, and we’re excited to announce a major new partnership with Tesco. By working together we will find ways to close the gap between survival rates in the UK and the best countries in Europe so that thousands more will survive cancer in the future.

Tesco will raise £10 million to fund 32 early diagnosis research projects across the UK, as well as displaying our leaflets on the signs and symptoms of cancer to the millions of customers who go through their stores’ checkouts each week.

But what exactly will this research involve? Read on for just a few highlights of the work that this valuable partnership is supporting. Continue reading →