Five research projects are to be given a total of £4.3 million to help find new treatments for children’s and young people’s cancers, it is announced today.
Michelle Mitchell, chief executive of Cancer Research UK, said the funding from the Cancer Research UK–Children with Cancer UK Innovation Awards signifies a “much-needed turbo-boost” for research into children’s and young people’s cancer.
The Institute of Cancer Research, London, led by Professor Richard Houlston, will study why some children inherit a greater risk of developing cancer and aim to identify previously unknown inherited gene mutations that increase a child’s chances of getting cancer.
Professors Christine Harrison, Jonathan Higgins and Steve Clifford at Newcastle University are to lead a research team that will investigate aneuploidy, which is found in many types of childhood cancers, in the hope of understanding why this happens.
Dr Anindita Roy at the University of Oxford, and Professor Anastasios Karadimitris of Imperial College London, are to develop a new way to treat a type of acute lymphoblastic leukaemia (ALL) using the immune system. They hope to adapt CAR T-cell therapy to use invariant natural killer T (iNKT) cells.
Professor Marc Mansour, Dr David O’Connor, Dr Jack Bartram and Professor Owen Williams of University College London and Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children are investigating the causes behind ALL coming back, which has been historically difficult because relapse is rare.
The fifth project is being led by Dr Sam Behjati at the Wellcome Sanger Institute, and Dr Karin Straathof at University College London. They will be identifying new targets to treat rhabdomyosarcoma (RMS), by investigating its foetal origins and building a cell “atlas”.
Michelle Mitchell, chief executive of Cancer Research UK, said: “We’ve listened to both parents and researchers and their concerns about lack of progress for children’s and young people’s cancers. That’s why we made a commitment to change this through our Cancer Research UK for Children & Young People research strategy.
“We are thrilled to be working with Children with Cancer UK in co-funding the Innovation Awards. This funding represents the dawning of a new age of investment into cancers that affect children and young people, and the awards are a key part of our research strategy.
“We hope this funding boost will build momentum in the field to improve our understanding of these types of cancer and ultimately lead to fewer children and young people losing their lives to this disease.”
Dr Nick Goulden, Trustee of Children with Cancer UK said: “We are delighted to be working together with Cancer Research UK to co-fund the Innovation Awards. Scientific research, largely funded by charities, has underpinned the massive improvement in survival for children and young people with cancer seen over the last 30 years.
“This exciting collaboration allows Children with Cancer UK to maximise the impact of this precious funding toward our ultimate goal of saving the life of every child and young person diagnosed with cancer.”
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