Pilot research projects

Disease Type: Blood cancer 
Research Target: Identifying causes of myeloproliferative neoplasms (MPNs)
Lead Researcher: Professor Lesley Anderson
Location: University of Aberdeen
Funding: £11,193

Myeloproliferative neoplasms (MPNs) are a type of blood cancer, but their cause is unknown. Research has shown most cancers are caused by genetic traits, or things that people are exposed during their lifetime – such as where they live and work – which causes changes in DNA over a lifetime.

About eight people in every 100,000 are diagnosed with an MPN. Many suffer from life limiting symptoms such as extreme fatigue. While treatments have improved, some patients progress to other cancers, such as acute myeloid leukaemia, or suffer cardiovascular complications.

Using a control group (people without MPN) and cases (people with MPN), the research team will use toenails – you read that right! – to assess the risk of MPNs.

The team has collected information on lifestyle, medical, occupational and environmental risk factors, along with toenail samples from both big toes, of all 231 participants.

The big toenail takes about a year to grow, and by analysing ground-down samples, researchers will look for signs a person has been exposed to elements that increase their cancer risk.

Friends of ANCHOR’s funding will allow Prof Anderson’s team to build on a pilot study (MOSAICC) she launched at Queen’s University Belfast.

The findings from this early research will be used to inform the assessment of the ongoing collection of toenails as part of a UK and Ireland-wide case-control study. This pilot analysis will help determine the sample size needed for the main study, allowing for the further exploration of causes of MPN patients.

By understanding the origins and cause of MPNs, researchers will be able to develop preventative strategies, screening tools and ultimately improve patient prognosis and care. It could also lead to new treatments.

We’ve previously awarded the MOSAICC study £22,064 to ensure the north-east was represented in the UK-wide research, enabling unmet patient needs to be addressed.

Disease Type: Oncology
Research Target: Personalising treatments
Lead Researcher: Dr Michael Morgan
Location: University of Aberdeen
Funding: £11,827.01

Re-activating the immune system to fight cancer has become an effective way to treat the disease.

The Nobel Prize was awarded for the discovery of a type of cancer therapy known as immune checkpoint blockade (ICB), which works by targeting proteins that hinder the activation of white blood cells.

One such protein is CTLA-4, which normally suppresses the immune responses of a specific type of white blood cell called T cells.

ICB drugs targeting CTLA-4 are administered through the bloodstream which can affect other immune cells. In some patients, this can cause T cells to attack healthy tissue, resulting in adverse reactions.

However, little is known about the effect of ICB on T cells outside the tumour, and whether this causes toxic side effects of the drugs.

Dr Morgan and his team has created a model that stimulates T cells, mimicking their activation both inside and outside of a tumour.

Dr Morgan will use this model to provide a more comprehensive understanding of CTLA-4.

The study will measure the activation markers of thousands of T cells simultaneously to get an accurate picture of which ones have been activated and how many.

It will provide evidence the technology can be used to study ICB toxicity in T cells outside a tumour.

The findings of this study will ultimately help to identify biomarkers for predicting which patients are likely to experience toxic side effects from ICB. This research will be critical to improving the effectiveness and safety of ICB as a cancer treatment.

This will enable alternative drugs to be given to such patients, reducing the burden of cancer therapy and saving lives by providing them with effective treatments sooner.

The study's ultimate goal is to pave the way for personalised cancer treatments that take into account the unique characteristics of each patient's immune system.

If successful, the study would help personalise cancer treatment, sparing patients from ineffective treatments and serious side effects.

Disease Type: Oncology
Research Target: PET Imaging, radiochemistry, diagnostic tool
Lead Researcher: Dr Sergio Dall’Angelo
Location: University of Aberdeen
Funding: £14,284

Positron emission tomography (PET) is an imaging technique that uses a radioactive molecule (tracer), commonly Fluorodeoxyglucose (FDG), to image in real-time the biochemical functioning of the body.

FDG accumulates in cells depending on their metabolic rate. FDG-PET can detect and visualise accumulation of the tracer in tissues, allowing identification of possible malignant diseases.

It is especially useful in cancer diagnosis, but cannot accurately identify all tumours, sometimes producing false positive or false negative results.

 

The John Mallard Scottish PET centre recently upgraded its cyclotron to allow the production of new radioactive atoms, for example, gallium-68, to prepare new specialised tracers that are more accurate in certain roles.

Dr Dall’Angelo’s study attempts to implement and validate the synthesis of an innovative PET tracer -  [68Ga]FAPI - for clinical use. The synthesis of this tracer was first reported only a few years ago and has already been used to successfully detect and image more than 28 different cancer types.

It recently was shown to outperform FDG for tumour staging in sarcoma, pancreatic sarcoma and primary brain tumours. The team hope their synthesis of a PET tracker [68Ga]FAPI could eventually complement FDG and help overcome its limitations.

This could result in a new clinical PET tracer being developed.

Ultimately, the study should help patients get a better diagnosis or evaluation.

Clinicians and the NHS will also be able to benefit from a wider pool of tracers to better identify diseases and therapies, allowing a more effective treatment and better outcome.

This would also help the NHS save time and resources and focus on more useful treatments.

The time required to prep for a PET scan would also be reduced – making it less stressful for patients while also increasing the number of people who can be seen in a day, allowing for shorter waiting times and earlier access to cures.

The new clinical PET tracer could also be used by clinicians and Aberdeen University researchers for new projects to better understand the evolution of cancer types.

Disease Type: Oncology
Research Target: Rurality, priorities, inequalities
Lead Researcher: Natalia Calanzan
Location: University of Aberdeen
Funding: £14,665.10

We know that people in rural and remote communities (including those in Scotland) die of cancer more often than those living in urban areas and live for fewer years after being diagnosed with the condition. However, we do not know exactly the reason for these differences, and it is likely that there is more than one reason.

There are many steps in the patient cancer journey (from a patient experiencing symptoms to care after treatment) that may influence outcomes. Population-specific factors, like general health, and health system factors, such as access to care, may also contribute.

For rural dwellers, travel distances to healthcare facilities are also important.

This study looks to better understand the reasoning by checking available studies and considering the views of health care professionals and patients diagnosed with cancer.

CORRECT has a short-term and a long-term aim.

The team will work to find out what should be prioritised in future research to focus on what is more likely to improve the lives of patients with cancer in rural and remote communities.

To do this, they will summarise what has been published worldwide and in Scotland on rural patients’ cancer outcomes. They will compare this data with challenges mentioned by health care professionals in the north-east to identify areas that require more research.

The research team will then prepare a long list of priorities for future research, and share this with a patient and public research interest group at the University of Aberdeen. This will be done to compare these priorities and to take into account what patients and the public see as important.

An online study, called a Delphi study, will be carried out in which health care professionals and cancer survivors (the “experts”) will agree on which issues they see as most important. Together, they will reduce the list of priorities to up to 30 items.

Finally, a face-to-face workshop with 20 “experts” will be held to reduce this list to a top 10 priorities.

The team’s long-term aim is to then source financial support to work on these 10 priorities to make a real, long-term difference to people diagnosed with cancer in rural and remote communities in the north-east.

The research will help identify health inequalities that exist when comparing cancer outcomes between rural/remote and urban communities.

By doing so, they will be able to prioritise what is important for this region while also being able to justify why future research is needed.

The work will allow researchers to apply for future funding that tackle specific needs in our target population. This pilot work can sow the seeds for a much larger programme of work to address evidence gaps that patients and professionals see as important.

In the long term, it is hoped it will improve outcomes for patients diagnosed with, and living with cancer in rural and remote communities in the north-east of Scotland.