Every 2 minutes, someone in the UK is diagnosed with cancer, and every 4 minutes someone in the UK dies from cancer (source: CRUK). This project aims to improve our understanding of the factors linked to a person getting cancer (incidence), and what affects how long someone with cancer lives (survival). Every cancer is different, with some being more aggressive than others and some responding better to specific treatments. If we can better understand these so-called ‘cancer subtypes’, we can hopefully offer patients more targeted treatment opportunities with less side effects.
We aim to define cancer subtypes by looking at tumours down a microscope, assessing specific molecular changes in the cancer cells (e.g. genetic mutations), or how the cancer behaves. We have a particular interest in testing whether we can use artificial intelligence to define cancer subtypes using routine clinical samples. To better understand how the cancer subtypes arise and progress, we will also study how these subtypes correlate with various risk factors such as age, smoking, obesity. Initially planned for a 3-year duration, this project is part of a wider programme of ongoing work being conducted in Oxford Cancer, aiming to translate scientific discoveries to improve cancer outcomes for patients and populations.