The Cancer Research Team at the University of Surrey and Topic of Cancer charity recently welcomed a very special guest to the team’s laboratories, His Royal Highness The Duke of Gloucester.
His Royal Highness was met by Dr Adam Frampton, Professor in Surgical Oncology, Head of Oncology at the University of Surrey and Consultant HPB Surgeon at the Royal Surrey NHS Foundation Trust, Dr Nicola Annels, Senior Research Fellow who leads the Cancer Immunotherapy Research and Anne Powell-Evans, Chair of Topic of Cancer, a charity based in Guildford and the only one in the UK solely supporting research into cancer immunotherapy.
His Royal Highness was given a guided tour of the team’s laboratories and scientists were on hand to demonstrate the state of art equipment purchased by the charity and discuss the immunotherapy research they are working on; ethnic specific disparities in prostate cancer, the use of exercise to improve anti-tumour response in oesophageal cancer, the role of the microbiome in bladder cancer, the biological factors influencing long term survival in pancreatic cancer and work being carried out on a prostate cancer vaccine.
The research team specialises in ground -breaking work into immunotherapy which uses our immune system to fight cancer. It works by helping the immune system recognise and attack cancer cells as an alternative treatment for cancer and the team is currently concentrating on cancers such as pancreatic, oesophageal, prostate, bladder, kidney, brain (glioblastoma) and ovarian. All of this is enabled by the close proximity of the Royal Surrey NHS Foundation Trust and the strong collaboration with the clinicians at the hospital.
Anne Powell-Evans explains further: “During the past decade, immunotherapy has permanently changed cancer treatment and has become the standard of treatment in the NHS for many. When we launched Topic of Cancer in 2013, immunotherapy was still very much in its infancy. Professor Pandha and his research team, based at the University of Surrey, were one of the few teams spearheading research into this revolutionary type of cancer treatment. Since then, it has entered the medical mainstream as a powerful game-changing treatment for many cancer patients, improving quality and length of life”.
There are different types of immunotherapy. These include monoclonal antibodies, checkpoint inhibitors, and vaccines. Some types of immunotherapy are also called targeted treatments or biological therapies.
Topic of Cancer plays a large part by helping to fund the ground-breaking immunotherapy research being carried out by this team. The charity also partners with the team to disseminate the research findings through patient and public meetings and to provide workshops for local sixth formers. Topic of Cancer also supports cancer patients, their families and carers with a choir and bespoke exercise classes . The charity is volunteer run with extremely low overheads of only 2%, the remainder going directly to where it is needed. The Trustees would be pleased to hear from anyone who would like further information about the team or the charity. Details can be seen at www.topicofcancer.org.uk