More podcasts from the NCRI Cancer Conference

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As well as blogging about the top stories from the NCRI Conference, we’ve also been busy interviewing some of the world’s top cancer researchers.

Here’s the next crop of NCRI Conference podcasts from Monday and Tuesday. Click on the researcher’s name to go to the podcast player.

  • Rebecca Fitzgerald talks about the importance of early detection for oesophageal cancer, and her “sponge-on-a-string” technique.
  • Amanda Sandford from ASH (Action on Smoking and Health) discusses the cost of smoking to the NHS.
  • Fiona Gilbert talks about CADET 2, a clinical trial to test whether computer-read mammograms can help to ease the pressure on the UK breast screening programme.
  • Stan Kaye, chair of the 2008 NCRI Conference programme planning committee, discusses the strands running through the conference and his highlights from the meeting.
  • David Forman from the National Cancer Intelligence Network talks about the latest cancer survival figures and inequalities across the UK.
  • Kim Nasmyth talks about cohesin, the molecule that holds newly-copied DNA together in cells, and his exciting new discovery about the way it works.
  • Howard Scher discusses his research into treating prostate cancer that has become resistant to hormone therapy.
  • Joe Gray explains how his research is leading to more tailored treatment for breast cancer.
  • Mike Richards, National Cancer Director for England, discusses the costs of cancer care, and how money could be saved and redirected within the NHS to provide better services.
  • Nazneen Rahman talks about her new research into Wilms’ tumour, a type of childhood kidney cancer, and how it will help children with the disease.

Enjoy!

Kat

NCRI lecture – Good cop, bad cop: the immune system and breast cancer spread

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As we’ve mentioned before, there’s a stack of evidence that chronic inflammation – directed by white blood cells – plays a role in the development and spread of some types of cancer.

For a start, plenty of molecular studies have found that the chemicals involved in controlling inflammation also seem to be involved in cancer.

Secondly, population studies have linked conditions like Crohn’s disease, asbestosis, H. pylori infection, and hepatitis all have a link to cancer.  In addition, people who regularly take anti-inflammatory drugs like aspirin have a reduced risk of the disease.

And crucially in this story, studies of cancer samples have revealed that tumours are studded with white blood cells that are known to be involved in inflammation. It now seems that the more white cells there are in a patient’s tumour, the more likely the cancer is to spread, and the worse the patient’s outlook.

But white blood cells are supposed to be the good guys – the body’s policemen. Could they also be aiding and abetting cancer spread? To try to find out, US researcher Professor Lisa Coussens has been studying the role of white blood cells in cancer for over a decade.

Her lab at the University of California, San Francisco, have found that certain specific types of white blood cell seem to shift from playing ‘good cop’ to playing ‘bad cop’ inside tumours, helping cancer cells escape like a corrupt sheriff might let a killer out of jail.

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The NCRI Conference – the nurse’s view

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As well as the talks about clinical trials and fundamental lab research, there’s an important strand of the NCRI Conference focused on the needs of cancer patients and survivors. Two of our Cancer Information Nurses, Martin Ledwick and Becky Partridge, went along to these sessions, and we asked them for their perspective on the talks they heard.

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Podcasts from the NCRI – hear about the latest research

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 As well as blogging about the top stories from the NCRI Conference, we’ve also been busy interviewing some of the world’s top cancer researchers.

Here’s the first crop of NCRI Conference podcasts from Sunday. Click on the researcher’s name to go to the podcast player.

  • Professor Harvey Chochinov talking about dying with dignity, and his work to train doctors and help terminally ill cancer patients
  • Professor Rakesh Jain explaining why drugs designed to cut of the blood supply to cancers may not work in the way we think they do
  • Dr Jane Cope talking about this year’s bumper spend on cancer research by the NCRI’s partner organisations, and how to address the problem of under-researched cancer types
  • Professor Michel Coleman discussing whether the UK really is the “sick man of Europe” when it comes to cancer survival
  • Professor Valerie Beral explaining how thousands of cases of breast cancer could be prevented, and the important of breastfeeding for reducing cancer risk

NCRI lecture: Detecting oesophageal cancer with a ‘sponge on a string’

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Oesophageal cancer is one of the fastest rising – and most deadly – cancers in the modern world. Rates in the UK alone have risen dramatically in the last thirty years, yet the five-year survival rates are among the poorest – partly because the disease is often detected at a late stage.

One of the main risk factors for the disease is a condition called Barrett’s oesophagus. This occurs in some people who suffer from what doctors call acid reflux, and the rest of us call heartburn.

Acid reflux is caused by stomach acid coming back up into the gullet. In Barrett’s oesophagus, this acid causes changes in the cells that line the oesophagus, increasing the likelihood that they will develop into cancer.

On average, one in ten of us gets heartburn at some point in our lives. But only one in ten people with heartburn has Barrett’s oesophagus. And around one in a hundred people with Barrett’s oesophagus will go on to get oesophageal cancer – a small risk, but still up to 125 times higher than the general population, and a similar degree of relative risk to women who carry faults in their BRCA genes.

So developing a way to identify these ‘high risk’ people, and offer them the appropriate monitoring and treatment, would save lives. Dr Rebecca Fitzgerald, from Cambridge University, is leading the way. Continue reading →

NCRI Sunday lectures – bookmarks, blood vessels, dignity, and the real cause of breast cancer

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Sunday afternoon at the NCRI conference was packed with talks from some of the world’s leading cancer experts.

Kat’s already blogged about Michel Coleman’s public lecture on cancer survival in the UK versus Europe, and we’ll be bringing you more in-depth posts about some of the main sessions once we’ve written them up.

But for now, here’s a taster of Sunday’s plenary sessions.

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Talcum powder and ovarian cancer – what’s going on?

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The alarm bells were rung over talc last week, thanks to new research showing an increase in risk of ovarian cancer among women who regularly use talcum powder.

The new study compared about 1,400 women who had ovarian cancer with 1,800 healthy women to see if using talc had any effect on their risk of cancer. It found that women who used talc regularly had 36% higher risk of ovarian cancer.

The study also reported that certain genes affected this link, including the GSTT1 gene which helps to process chemicals in the body. The study found that the link between talc and ovarian cancer was stronger in women who lacked a working copy of this gene.

Is this cause for concern? Let’s take a look at the rest of the evidence.

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