One size doesn’t fit all when it comes to cancer. Even the most successful standardised treatments, such as chemotherapy, don’t always work as effectively for everyone.
Cancer is as unique and individual as the person who has it. That’s why treatments should be too. Personalised medicine could offer more people new hope – donate to help fund life-saving personalised medicine research at The Christie.
What is personalised cancer medicine?
Sometimes referred to as precision oncology, personalised medicine takes an individualised approach. It does this through checking biological samples like blood or tissue, which can give information about a person and their cancer.
Doctors then use this data to match patients with targeted therapies and immunotherapies, where the body's own immune system is designed to help identify and attack cancer cells.
Patients treated with personalised medicine can access the treatments that are right for them more quickly, giving them a greater chance of survival. Doctors can also identify treatments less likely to cause their patients unnecessary and harmful side effects.
With a gift today, you could help fund more personalised medicine research right here in the heart of Manchester.
Personalised medicine is transforming the lives of patients like Mark. Mark is currently being treated for bladder cancer at The Christie and was the first patient to join the MANIFEST study, one of the largest immunotherapy studies in the country. You can read more about this study in Mark’s story.
£30m of funding for research
Ideally, every patient would have their own personal treatment plan, tailormade for them and their cancer. That’s why The Christie Charity has committed to fund £30m of research at The Christie over the next 4 years. This includes research into personalised medicine.
We need your help to fund research that could one day deliver more effective and kinder treatments to more people living right here in Manchester, and across the UK.
The potential of personalised medicine is so immense that targeted treatments could one day touch the lives of millions of people all around the world. Together we can help transform cancer treatment and give many more people the hope of longer, healthier lives.
You can read about some of the game-changing personalised medicine research below that The Christie Charity is committed to funding, with your help.
Dr Raghavendar Nagaraju is conducting research at The Christie to develop a blood test for DNA particles to help diagnose appendix tumours (ATs) more quickly.
ATs are rare cancers that are difficult to detect and treat. By the time they’re diagnosed, the cancer has often spread to the lining of the abdomen, requiring major surgery and chemotherapy.
The new blood test looks for tiny fragments of tumour DNA, offering a non-invasive way to detect and monitor the disease in real time. The team is building the first ever detailed reference DNA map, which it will use to identify patterns unique to ATs, by comparing it to blood samples from 70 patients.
Immunotherapy can be highly effective. For some patients it can be life-extending and, in certain cases, it can even be curative. But we don’t yet know why some respond to immunotherapy and others don’t.
The MANIFEST study wants to change that. It’s one of the largest studies of its kind in the UK. Dr Kate Brown, Translational Research Programme Lead whose role is funded by The Christie Charity is part of the team.
Researchers aim to identify who may respond well, who may need preventative interventions or closer monitoring. They will learn how risks and benefits can be better balanced when making treatment decisions.
Eventually researchers could predict who is most likely to benefit from immunotherapy and who may be at greater risk of side effects. This knowledge will help improve patient care across the NHS and worldwide.
Dr Daniel Wiseman’s team at The Christie has been trialling a new type of drug for chronic myelomonocytic leukaemia. There are currently very few effective treatments for this rare form of blood cancer.
And the only available approved drugs cause some patients more harm than good. Until now, it’s never been possible to predict who these patients are.
Using cutting edge sequencing techniques, the team will study blood and bone marrow samples from trial patients to help doctors identify patients most likely to benefit and respond to this new drug. This would be the first time treatment has been personalised for this devastating cancer.