We are working to identify novel biomarkers for cancer and currently we are working on two candidates for ovarian cancer. Survival from ovarian cancer has almost doubled over the last 30 years, but the 5 year survival rate is still relatively poor at approximately 40-50%. The incidence and mortality rate in women over the age of 65 is notably higher with patients typically presenting with Stage III/IV metastatic disease. If detected at the earliest stages of development, 90% of patients will survive. Therefore, it is vital that novel independent prognostic markers are identified in order to improve our understanding of ovarian cancer biology and the management of these patients. The image on the homepage represents our work with tumour biopsy samples that express a type of protein called a Damage Associated Molecular Pattern (or DAMP) that is expressed in ovarian cancer (brown pigmented cells). Patients that express a lot of this molecule tend to have a worse prognosis suggesting that DAMPs may be useful biomarkers for predicting survival and could provide a novel therapeutic target. Our PhD student Nina Albalbeisi is exploring a second novel biomarker where high expression of an enzyme in tumours has the opposite result and is associated with an increased survival time of patients. It is currently unclear why this is the case but our working hypothesis is that the molecule when expressed at high levels in the tumour may be tagging the cancer for destruction by the immune system.

Cancer immunotherapy has been revolutionised by the use of monoclonal antibodies which work by tagging the cancer cells for destruction by the immune system. However, the effectiveness of this approach is likely to be dependent on the genetic makeup of individual cancer patients. We have developed methods in the laboratory with groups from Leicester and Southampton that we hope will help us to better predict patient responses to this type of immunotherapy.

With Dr Steve Lee at the University of Birmingham we have published research exploring a type of immune therapy called adoptive T cell therapy. This involves removing the body’s killer T-cells and arming them, to make them more powerful, before returning them to the patient. This approach is highly experimental and the aim is to test this approach in clinical trials in the next few years for viral cancers. Specifically, this pre-clinical research contributes towards eradicating Epstein Barr Virus (EBV)-induced cancers; For Cancer research UK, this now represents their recently proposed ‘Grand challenge 2’ the aim of which is to reduce the 200,000 annual cases of EBV induced cancers to zero. Closer to home this work contributes to achieving the Universities’ Changemaker Challenge 2 which is to make Northamptonshire the leading county in the UK for Health and Wellbeing.

Another approach developed by Professor Lindy Durrant (and Scancell) has been to develop and test a cancer vaccine. This is currently in a phase I/II clinical trial for melanoma skin cancer. The strategy allows us to jump start the immune response to treat cancer. Results have been encouraging and this vaccine may play an important role in patients with more advanced disease where current treatments are limited and prognosis is poor.