Research teams from the Royal Free Hospital (RFH) and University College London (UCL) have been awarded more than £4 million for two projects aimed at improving treatment and outcomes for patients with liver cancer.
Globally, liver tumours are the third most common cause of cancer death, and one of the few cancers for which mortality is rising. It also has one of the lowest survival rates.
The RFH is internationally recognised as a leading centre for the treatment of liver cancer and has been at the cutting edge of treatment innovations which have resulted in a three-fold improvement in survival for patients with advanced disease. However, there remains room for improvement.
CAR T-cell therapy, which involves genetic engineering of a patient’s own immune cells to attack tumours, has transformed outcomes in some blood cancers and is now being explored as a treatment for liver cancer. Based on promising work performed by Dr Claire Roddie at the UCL Cancer Institute, Cancer Research UK (CRUK) have funded an early-phase trial which will enable liver cancer patients at RFH to receive a novel CAR T-cell treatment for the first time. The trial is expected to open in 2027.
Additionally, CRUK are also funding a project based on work from Professor Mala Maini’s lab at the UCL Institute of Immunity and Transplantation. The research aims to develop a new treatment approach by combining cancer vaccination strategies with drugs that strip away a tumor’s protective “cloaking” mechanisms, allowing the body’s immune cells to recognise and destroy the cancer.
Dr Alexa Childs, who runs the clinical trial programme in liver cancer at the RFH, said: “Our patients’ willingness to participate in research and undergo additional tests has enabled us to really understand why some patients respond to treatment and others don’t. This understanding is now being directly translated into new treatment options.”
Professor Tim Meyer, who leads the hepatocellular carcinoma service at the RFH, said: “This level of funding from Cancer Research UK demonstrates the importance of liver cancer as an unmet need and is an endorsement of the high-quality scientific and clinical collaborations that have developed across UCL and Royal Free London.”
Pictured L-R: Professor Tim Meyer, Professor Mala Maini and Dr Mariana Diniz
