Mechanisms of radiotherapy resistance
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Next-generation sequencing to identify biomarkers of radiotherapy resistance in locally-advanced pharyngeal cancer (NSeRRP)
IRAS ID
190827
Contact name
David Andrew
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
Sheffield Teaching Hospitals NHS FT
Duration of Study in the UK
2 years, 0 months, 30 days
Research summary
Patients with throat cancer are normally treated with radiotherapy, sometimes with added chemotherapy. This treatment is as good as surgery in curing the cancer, but importantly it affects speaking and swallowing much less than surgery, giving patients a better quality-of-life afterwards. But in some patients the cancer doesn't respond to radiotherapy, or it recurs after treatment, and surgery is then the only option for cure. Surgery after radiotherapy is more difficult for the surgeon and patients tend to get more post-operative complications. We think that the reason that some cancers respond to radiotherapy whereas other don’t is due to differences in the genetic makeup of the cancer cells. In this project we aim to identify differences in the pattern of gene expression in the cancers that don't respond to radiotherapy compared to those that are cured. To do this we will perform gene analysis on lymph node biopsy samples from patients with throat cancer. As a first step we need to be sure that the study can be done using the gene analysis technique that we have in mind and also collect pilot data on the genetic changes that occur in throat cancer. In the long-term we hope to be able to predict whether a patient's cancer will respond to radiotherapy on the basis of a biopsy, and therefore offer them the most appropriate treatment, which might be surgery in the first instance rather than radiotherapy.
REC name
Yorkshire & The Humber - Sheffield Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
15/YH/0527
Date of REC Opinion
20 Jan 2016
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion