Investigating genetic & clinicopathological factors underlying risk, survival and toxicity to treatment in patients with cancer and population controls

Worldwide, over a million people are diagnosed with colorectal cancer each year. Only clinical stage is used as a crude guide (or biomarker) to help determine how long a patient will survive and to help inform their treatment options. There is a clear need for more accurate measures of survival and toxicities to treatment. Our group is investigating whether a patient’s genetic code in their blood and cancer can be used for such measures. We have already shown that genetic changes within the cancers themselves can have a major effect on survival. Furthermore, we have recently shown that a genetic change in a patient’s blood DNA can also influence survival. We have now carried out a full screen of the entire genome and identified many further genetic biomarkers which we aim to confirm in this application to the UK BioBank. Genetic biomarkers promise to inform patient survival and treatment options for improved quantity and quality of life. They may also inform the development of better therapies. Project duration: 3 year rolling cycle to pursue data driven hypotheses.