On the pulse
Latest on Hyde Park Walk 2011...
The last few envelopes of Hyde Park Walk sponsorship money have been arriving at the Cancerkin Office all week. We are pleased to announce that the total raised for this year’s sponsored walk around The Serpentine Lake is an amazing £36,514.52! Thank you so much to everyone who took part and worked so hard to contribute to this fantastic grand total. Thank you also to all those that were unable to attend but who generously donated to Cancerkin instead. Well done to everyone on another successful year!
As promised, we will very shortly be announcing the top three fundraisers who will be awarded prizes from Floris and Pizza Express. Look out for the announcement in next week’s edition – it could be you!
Cancerkin at the theatre…
There are still tickets available for Cancerkin’s special evening at the Hampstead Theatre for a performance of ‘The Last of the Duchess’ on 31st October 2011. The play focuses on the final days of the controversial Duchess of Windsor, Wallis Simpson, spent in her household in Versailles, and features Sheila Hancock and Anna Chancellor.
To buy tickets at £40 each, you can call Laura on 020 7830 2323, or you can complete a ticket form, which you will shortly receive in the post or which you can download from our website. Seats are limited so book early to avoid disappointment!
East London Internship…
Applications for Cancerkin’s East London Project Internship are still open. Please send a CV and covering letter to Asini at a.wijewardane@cancerkin.org.uk if you would like to apply. For more details, please visit our website.
In the News.....
Personalised medicine for those with breast cancer gene...
An increasing amount of research is being done into targeted cancer treatments that depend on the genetic makeup of a patient and that of their cancer. This approach is known as personalised medicine. One such trial was launched this week at the Oxford Experimental Cancer Medicine Centre at the University of Oxford. The team of researchers based at the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) Oxford Biomedical Research Centre are leading the study into cancer drug 6MP, to find out if it may benefit those with hereditary breast and ovarian cancer. If successful the drug could offer important extra treatment options for patients with certain breast and ovarian cancers caused by faults in the BRCA1 and BRCA2 genes. These genes are known to significantly increase the risk of developing breast and ovarian cancer, with 15 out of every 100 breast and ovarian cancers being caused by BRCA1 and BRCA2 genetic faults.
The study will look at cancer drug 6MP, which belongs to a class of drugs known as thiopurines and is currently used to treat leukaemia patients, often given alongside another chemotherapy drug called methotrexate. Earlier laboratory studies into thiopurines have suggested that the drugs are effective at killing cancer cells lacking BRCA genes. The lab studies showed that the drugs may also be effective when cancer cells have developed resistance to other treatments such as PARP inhibitors and cisplatin. If the new study into 6MP and its possible benefits is successful, it will lead to a larger phase III trial in the future.
Trial leader Dr Shibani Nicum, a gynaecology specialist based at the Oxford Experimental Cancer Medicine Centre (EMCM) and a researcher in Oxford University’s Department of Oncology, said of the trial: “PARP inhibitors are a powerful new class of drugs developed specifically to target tumours caused by BRCA 1 and BRCA2 faults, but drug resistance remains a problem. We hope that the very encouraging results we have seen in early laboratory studies involving 6MP will lead to increased treatment options for these patients in the future.” Professor Mark Middleton, director of the Oxford ECMC at Oxford University, added: “It’s exciting to see drugs being developed for specific groups of patients who share the same underlying genetic faults in their cancer. Targeted treatments are at the cutting edge of cancer care and we’re proud to be involved in bringing such drugs a step closer to the clinic.”
To read more about the trial on Cancer Research UK’s website, please click here.
Laura Smith
19th August 2011
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