Award Title: NIHR Royal Marsden BRC
Funder: Department of Health and Social Care

Abstract: At the Royal Marsden NHS Foundation Trust (RM) and The Institute of Cancer Research (ICR) Biomedical Research Centre, patients and their families are at the heart of what we do.  RM is a specialist cancer hospital with a world-wide reputation. ICR has an outstanding academic reputation and continues to come top in the UK for Biological Sciences and Clinical Medicine. Together, our partnership is able to rapidly transfer scientific breakthroughs into the clinic to transform the lives of cancer patients.       Cancer is the UK s biggest killer. Despite significant progress against the disease in the last 20 years, it continues to claim around 160,000 lives every year. Survival rates have improved enormously in some types of cancer but not others. Once the disease has spread round the body it is still usually incurable.   The major challenges that our BRC seeks to overcome include:    Preventing cancers from developing by identifying people most at risk of the disease. Detecting cancer earlier and more accurately to make cure more possible. Tackling the enormous complexity and unpredictable nature of cancer. Firstly, there are more than 200 types of cancer. Secondly, the same type of cancer can differ between patients as individual cancers can carry their own molecular footprint. Dealing with the ability of cancers to adapt and evolve within the patient and in response to treatment. Patients often respond initially to treatment only for the cancer to sidestep the effects of treatment in a similar way to infections that become resistant to antibiotics.    We will:     Apply our research into the fundamental processes at work as cancers develop, grow and evolve for cancer prevention, early diagnosis and targeted treatments. We will develop liquid biopsies (blood tests) to diagnose and monitor cancers. Harness our research in cancer biology, cancer imaging, the microbiome (bacteria) and metabolome (breakdown products) to select the right patients for the right treatments. This will improve survival, reduce the use of ineffective treatments and save patients from unnecessary side effects. Build on our international track record for discovering new cancer treatments by developing innovative cancer drugs and precision image-guided radiotherapy. We will expand our surgical research. We will research drugs that activate the patient s immune system to fight cancer and which can control and even cure some advanced cancers. Tackle cancer drug resistance with combinations of treatments. We will develop tests to direct when and how to adapt therapy to prevent drug resistance and to prevent over-treatment of patients.    Our responsibility to cancer patients and their families does not end with the delivery of excellent research, or even with the development of new treatments. We will ensure effective new treatments, technologies and strategies for prevention are adopted into routine healthcare by building an evidence base to support this.   Long-term, we aim to increase cure rates and to improve survival with smarter, kinder treatments which significantly reduce immediate and long-term side effects and allow patients to live well with and beyond cancer.

Lay Abstract: At the Royal Marsden NHS Foundation Trust (RM) and The Institute of Cancer Research (ICR) Biomedical Research Centre, patients and their families are at the heart of what we do.  RM is a specialist cancer hospital with a world-wide reputation. ICR has an outstanding academic reputation and continues to come top in the UK for Biological Sciences and Clinical Medicine. Together, our partnership is able to rapidly transfer scientific breakthroughs into the clinic to transform the lives of cancer patients.       Cancer is the UK s biggest killer. Despite significant progress against the disease in the last 20 years, it continues to claim around 160,000 lives every year. Survival rates have improved enormously in some types of cancer but not others. Once the disease has spread round the body it is still usually incurable.   The major challenges that our BRC seeks to overcome include:    Preventing cancers from developing by identifying people most at risk of the disease. Detecting cancer earlier and more accurately to make cure more possible. Tackling the enormous complexity and unpredictable nature of cancer. Firstly, there are more than 200 types of cancer. Secondly, the same type of cancer can differ between patients as individual cancers can carry their own molecular footprint. Dealing with the ability of cancers to adapt and evolve within the patient and in response to treatment. Patients often respond initially to treatment only for the cancer to sidestep the effects of treatment in a similar way to infections that become resistant to antibiotics.    We will:     Apply our research into the fundamental processes at work as cancers develop, grow and evolve for cancer prevention, early diagnosis and targeted treatments. We will develop liquid biopsies (blood tests) to diagnose and monitor cancers. Harness our research in cancer biology, cancer imaging, the microbiome (bacteria) and metabolome (breakdown products) to select the right patients for the right treatments. This will improve survival, reduce the use of ineffective treatments and save patients from unnecessary side effects. Build on our international track record for discovering new cancer treatments by developing innovative cancer drugs and precision image-guided radiotherapy. We will expand our surgical research. We will research drugs that activate the patient s immune system to fight cancer and which can control and even cure some advanced cancers. Tackle cancer drug resistance with combinations of treatments. We will develop tests to direct when and how to adapt therapy to prevent drug resistance and to prevent over-treatment of patients.    Our responsibility to cancer patients and their families does not end with the delivery of excellent research, or even with the development of new treatments. We will ensure effective new treatments, technologies and strategies for prevention are adopted into routine healthcare by building an evidence base to support this.   Long-term, we aim to increase cure rates and to improve survival with smarter, kinder treatments which significantly reduce immediate and long-term side effects and allow patients to live well with and beyond cancer.

Research Activity Codes: 4.5 RESOURCES AND INFRASTRUCTURE (DETECTION)
Health Categories: CANCER AND NEOPLASMS