8.
Cancer research
Health & Wellbeing
43
Keywords
Clinical trials, experimental cancer medicine, good
clinical laboratory practice, haematological/blood,
biobanking, pre-clinical testing.
Expertise
The University’s cancer portfolio spans basic cancer cell
biology through translational research and clinical trials
to palliative care. Liverpool is in a position to contribute
to major new scientific opportunities in cancer research
where we are internationally competitive.
Our aim is to make new discoveries and deepen our
understanding of the mechanisms of cancer and cancer
therapies which can then form the basis of innovative
and improved cancer treatments. All our oncology
groups undertake translational research activities, with a
strong focus on clinical practice and trials, with extensive
collaborations with biotech and pharmaceutical
industrial partners.
The University is especially strong in a number of
tumour-specific areas, notably pancreatic, hepatobiliary,
bladder, blood, ocular and head and neck. We are
also recognised for our expertise in developing and
improving a variety of treatment strategies such as
experimental medical and surgical oncology.
Liverpool excels in statistics and bioinformatics
methodology that is relevant to cancer; we have unique
expertise to carry out research at the interface of
statistics and bioinformatics.
Liverpool is part of a unique chain of Cancer
Research UK Centres being launched around the
country. The Liverpool Cancer Research UK
Centre brings together scientists, doctors, and
nurses to boost key areas of research that will
produce the greatest benefits for cancer patients in
Liverpool, Merseyside, and Cheshire. The Centre’s
status helps engage clinicians to advance early and
late clinical trials work, which is expected to lead to
new and improved treatments.
Oncology clinical trials
Liverpool can deliver all phases of oncology clinical
trials for industry and public sector partners in a broad
range of different cancer types. This includes the
support of early phase trials in solid tumour oncology in
HPB, head and neck, breast oncology, and circulating
tumours and lymphoma.
The University’s CR-UK Liverpool Cancer Trials Unit
designs, conducts, leads and supports high quality
early and late phase clinical trials, systematic reviews
and other well designed studies to advance cancer
research. The Unit also continuously reviews, applies
and develops relevant cancer clinical trial
methodology with the aim to improve patient care.
Biobanking, biomarker validation and molecular
pathological analysis
Our excellence in oncology stems in part from our
development and exploitation of the University’s
Liverpool Tissue Bank. Biobanking is extremely
important for world-class cancer research for both
academia and industry. Using patient samples,
collected and stored to Good Clinical Laboratory
Practice (GCLP) standards, is essential to identify
drug targets, diagnostic and response biomarkers
as well as biomarkers enabling stratification of
patient management.
The Liverpool Tissue Bank contains clinically well-
annotated sample collections, which provide a unique
resource for biomarker discovery and validation projects.
Investigators can use biobank tissue samples to identify
drug targets, diagnostic and response biomarkers, and
pharmacogenetic determinants (eg biomarkers
enabling the stratification of patient management).
The number of cancers requiring molecular
pathological analysis of tumour samples is rapidly
increasing, as a large emphasis is being placed on
personalised medicine in the targeted treatment of
cancer patients. The pharmaceutical industry and
medical and research communities of disease-causing
changes in molecules targeted by therapy are aware
of this trend and drive the growth in molecular
pathological analysis, using this knowledge for patient
benefit. Molecular tests for potential drug sensitivity,
prognostication and disease classification are
already standard practice.
APPLICATION AREAS
•
Biotechnology
•
Healthcare and pharmaceuticals
•
Nanotechnology and advanced materials
Also see:
Health & Wellbeing –
1.2
Health services research, page 14
2.
Maternal and child health, page 18
4.
Infections and global health, page 25
6.
Drug safety and personalised
medicine, page 35
9.
Pancreatic diseases, page 45
8.1
Clinical focus areas, diagnosis and treatments
