Early detection of Gastroesophageal cancer
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Early detection of Gastroesophageal cancer
IRAS ID
248942
Contact name
Maria Pilar Alcolea Delgado
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
University of Cambridge
Duration of Study in the UK
7 years, 0 months, 1 days
Research summary
Gastroesophageal cancer is a deadly disease, representing the 6th most common cause of cancer death worldwide. The poor prognosis of this malignancy mainly resides in its late clinical presentation. Identifying diagnostic markers that could be used for early detection in high risk patients will constitute a major step forward.
One of the main reasons preventing advances in early detection is the extraordinary inter and intra-heterogeneity of cancers. This has presented a giant hurdle to find shared mechanisms involved in cancer formation and progression. In the quest to offer better clinical prospects to oesophageal cancer patients we propose to focus on a less studies but critical cancer component, the epithelial-stromal crosstalk. Understanding these signals in normal and tumorigenic oesophageal samples will provide unique and attractive opportunities to identify early diagnostic and prognostic markers, as well as potential therapeutic strategies that may synergize with those targeting tumour cells.
To approach this, we have developed a gastroesophageal tumour mouse model that recapitulates squamous tumour formation and progression from the earliest stages of the disease. A multidisciplinary approach combining the most advanced RNA sequencing, proteomics and mathematical network analysis will be used to investigate the epithelial-stromal signalling molecules expressed at different stages during squamous carcinogenesis.
The final aim will be to investigate the relevance of these signals as potential early detection markers in human oesophageal tumour samples, and ultimately in liquid biopsies. To this end, we will make use of human gastroesophageal biopsies, as well as matched urine and blood samples, taken at different stages of the tumour progression from the moment of diagnosis.
By focusing on the epithelial/stromal cross-talk, more stable than the ever changing tumour cell population, we expect to identify shared mechanisms driving cancer formation and progression that may be relevant to other cancer types beyond that of the oesophagus.REC name
North West - Preston Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
18/NW/0741
Date of REC Opinion
18 Oct 2018
REC opinion
Favourable Opinion