Cancer Research UK is partnering with an Italian and a Spanish cancer research charity to invest approximately £30 million in 6 international collaborations, which aim at accelerating progress in translational research.
The projects investigate the potential of immunotherapies in treating liver cancer; develop manufacturing methods for CAR-T cell production; track cancer cell evolution; investigate drug resistance in blood cancers; devise a blood test for advanced prostate cancer; and find new routes for personalising blood cancer treatment. UK researchers will lead 2 of the programmes.
The funded projects are:
- HUNTER: Hepatocellular Carcinoma Expediter Network study of the immune environment in hepatocellular carcinoma (UK).
- Innovative CAR Therapy Platform to improve access CAR T-cell immunotherapy by developing manufacturing methods and providing recommendations for CAR T-cell immunotherapy development.
- A study to track cancer cell evolution in organoids examine the process of drug resistance.
- Investigation of the mechanisms of transformation and hidden resistance of incurable haematological malignancies.
- Development of clinically applicable multimodal clinical testing for prostate cancer.
- ACRCelerate which is seeking to identify new targets in colorectal cancer (UK).
With Brexit approaching, it is hoped that the 5-year Accelerator Awards projects will help to maintain European (EU)-wide research collaboration in the future.
Dr. Iain Foulkes, executive director of research and innovation at Cancer Research UK, said: "No single organisation or country is going to beat cancer on its own. Research must be prioritised as the United Kingdom builds a new relationship with the EU, as much-needed breakthroughs in treatment are dependent on collective action from the international research community.
"Our Accelerator Award funding will lay the groundwork for a Europe and UK research pipeline, boosting our life sciences industry, and ensuring basic biological research translates into new innovative treatments in future."