5 hot research topics our scientists are homing in on

How about myelofibrosis?

My brother Kev died of lung cancer which spread to his brain last february. (20/2/14). Had he lived, he would have been 58 on 29/3/14. he was only 16 months older than me. What a pity this wasn’t around before. at least there is hope for others. KEEP UP THE GOOD WORK.

My daughter,her friend,and her friend’s mum,recently took part in ‘Race for life’,in support of Cancer Research UK.I was really proud of her!Keep up the excellent work,and continue the battle. But I agree with one of the previous comments;the government should contribute more,enabling even more research,and hopefully becoming closer to the success rates of our European colleagues.

Very interesting and encouraging to learn of the work being done in the fight against cancer. Even better to hear of the progress being made. Thank you to all involved in this research who work so tirelessly.

Love getting these updates. They allow me to pass information on to people who have been diagnosed with Cancer to reassure them that so much is being discovered all the time.

In the ten years that my (then 32) beloved brother died from melanoma having received superb treatment at the Royal Marsden in Chelsea, It’s so encouraging to learn the significant progress that has been made for those with the disease diagnosed stage 3+ . Carry on with the good work , I salute you.

It is encouraging that progress is being made. We do need our government to contribute more to medical research and not leave it to the pharmaceuticals!

Hello, I remain disappointed at the lack of resource and priority CRUK is applying to Pancreatic Cancer—mentioned in your text tho’ as far as I know and I may be out of date. Last year I retired as Chair of PCUK having sought partnership during my 6 years as Chair with CRUK.

I know that there have been some fruits from the relationship between CRUK and PCUK though I remain disappointed in the amount of attention given to date.

Please tell me I am incorrect in my assertions.

Hi Miss Oseni,

Thanks for your comment and support. We’re really sorry to hear about your diagnosis.

For the new immunotherapy treatments you have mentioned, there is still a lot of research to be done to find out which types of cancer will respond to the treatments and who would benefit from them. And no treatment is without side effects, including immunotherapies. At the moment, these treatments have only been proven effective in lung cancer and melanoma. You can read more about the latest research on immunotherapies here.

New treatments can also only be made available on the NHS once they’ve been shown to be effective in clinical trials, and once an assessment has been made about how cost effective the treatment is for the health service. We have been doing a lot of work to encourage the Government to develop a more flexible approach to funding new cancer drugs so newer types of treatment, such as immunotherapies, can be given to everyone who will benefit in the future.

If you would like to speak to someone about your situation you can contact one of our Cancer Information Nurses for free on 0808 800 40 40 or via this online form.

Best wishes,
Nick, Cancer Research UK

Good explanation of how the research is progressing. Insight into the cancer becoming resistant. The opportunity for trials (I am a trial patient).
It’s reassuring to know that slowly progress is being made so one day we will beat cancer.

the increase in funding for pancreatic research funding is welcome and brilliant news

We have a long way to go in our efforts to combat cancer but we must not slow down our research. It is vital we do all we can to attract more young scientists to join the wonderful people who are making such good progress at this time.

I think this is one of the best research topics we have had and very easy to understand also you can look at any of the cancers by the click of your mouse,

All these improvement s are fantStic and. Tribute to the work by research. Very little is heard of blood cancers,particularly the in curable ones- any movement on these??

It is good to know that more people are surviving longer after being diagnosed with cancer.I think that it is important that clinics world wide share thier research in order that cures may be found quicker.

Hi Glenda,
Thanks for your comment. We’re sorry to hear about your husband and son.
You can read about all the prostate cancer research we’ve blogged about recently here. We have also written about some important clinical trial results in prostate cancer that were announced earlier this year – you can read the news report here. And you can also find out about all the prostate cancer research we are funding here.
Best wishes,
Nick, Cancer Research UK

Hi Alison & Katie,

Thanks for your comments. Rare cancers are absolutely something we’re focusing on too, as part of our work with the International Rare Cancers Initiative.

In answer to your specific questions, yes – we’ve just agreed to support a clinical trial that’s testing whether patients with pancreatic neuroendocrine tumours benefit from having chemotherapy following surgery. And we’re also funding a trial testing a new treatment for people with neuroendocrine tumours that start in other parts of the body.

And we spend more than £116 million on research into the biology of cancer, which helps us understand and tackle all types of the disease and could lead to faster diagnosis and better treatments for patients with neuroendocrine tumours.

Best wishes,
Nick, Cancer Research UK

Reassuring to hear the progress and future efforts to beat cancers is really reassuring. I have nearly finished my prostate cancer course and am virtually cleared. Keep up the good work.

Hi Kat, thanks for your reply regarding IPT. I have looked at the web site and it simply says that IPT should not be taken because it lowers the blood sugar levels. Yes, that’s the point.

Does it mean that the low dose chemo drugs are more effective? No evidence.

It is disappointing that there are no scientists out there who want to go to clinical trials. The potential is huge. Unfortunately, it also has the potential for reducing drug company revenues by 90%!

Best wishes, Harvey

Please can we have the latest on prostate cancer sometimes, both my husband and son are victims

I have multi myeloma cancer but there never appears to much information concerning research into this type of cancer.

I have lost 2 pals to pancreatic cancer and am pleased that you are increasing your budget in tackling this nasty cancer

A lot of good news has emerged in recent months on new lines of cancer research. It bodes well for the future, but meanwhile there are a lot of people who have to accept treatments that are available now.

My wife is in her fifth year since she was diagnosed with Stage 3 ovarian/peritoneal cancer. Surgery and radiotherapy have been ruled out, so she has been given chemo. Again and again. It has kept the cancer at bay, but boy, those side effects!

So when we heard about IPT with low-dose chemo we thought this could be what she needs. But is it? No studies, no research, no plans for research. We can go abroad for treatment, but why isn’t this being investigated to help the thousands of chemo patients in this country who suffer from side-effects?

[IPT stands for Insulin Potentiated Therapy; insulin is used to reduce blood sugar levels; then glucose laced with chemo drugs is introduced intravenously, and the cancer cells gobble it all up. 10% of normal chemo dose, and none left to attack the rest of the body.]

Thanks for the email as someone with ovarian cancer and having 2nd line chemotherapy I see and hear very little in positive news regarding research particuly when new drugs are refused by the cancer drug fund.

Well done, Cancer Research! I am a keen supporter and truly believe we WILL BEAT CANCER! :) Keep up the wonderful work you do for all of us!

Thank you for this very useful information,and a big thank you to the researcch team who are doing such wonderful work in this field

as a donor and champ for cruk, i feel there should be some real progress and concrete solutions. Immunotherapy is the best way to go now and Gene tests to detect the irregular pattern growth but i dont see any solid evidence or progress there. is CRUK taking all grants as granted??

Same question as Katie really. Part of the conservative manifesto before election was that they were going to put more money into rare cancers. I have had malignant insulinoma, a rare neuroendocrine tumour of the pancreas. I was misdiagnosed at Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Birmingham and luckily sought a 2nd opinion from the wonderful Prof Caplin at the Royal Free Hospital in London. I cannot help but wonder how many people with neuroendocrine tumours of the pancreas are being misdiagnosed and receving the wrong treatment. Is more money being spent on research into neuroendocrine tumours of the pancreas?

Thank you for this information having lost both parents to cancer it is something that is very close to my heart. I long for the day when nobody will have to go through what my sister and I went through.

Allot to read and absorb, but with the continuing research fighting cancel can only improve.

This is great, well done to you all. I must ask if there is anything being done for pancreatic neuro endocrine tumours or is it just mainstream pancreatic cancer? Thank you

I’m a supporter of the cancer research and I pay by direct debit. Now I am a victim of cancer. I was diagnosed in may 2015 of stomach cancer but what I am not happy about is that the chemo do kill the good and bad cells and now that they have discovered a new chemo called immunotherapy thats only kill the cancer, I don’t understand why they cannot give us that to save our lives.
I am not very happy and I am thinking of stopping my donation and give it to macmillan cancer support

It is an interesting article about treating cancer.
Catching cancer EARLY before it spreads is crucial and as a survivor of Bowel cancer,
(dioagnosed Dec 2009) I feel there should be more information spread around public places , giving the symptoms of bowel cancer. e.g. on back of toilet doors.( For instance, mucus in stools( not just blood), constipation, unusual pain. Whilst in Australia, I saw this information on toilet doors but never in UK.

Well done doctors…much appreciated. I hope we can box cancers face….finish this hell out of this world and beat it like its beating us. Get lost cancer go away.

Very interesting data and information on advances in treatments.

Love the article – lots to use when I go out to talk to patients and public!

Amazing to read and know that so many amazing people are continually making huge steps forward into this seemingly relentless disease. Thank you all.

really well produced, informative and easy to understand set of messages/updates. Good stuff indeed