Funding boost for radiotherapy in Leeds to help make faster progress for cancer patients

It is hoped the award will help more people diagnosed with cancer survive.

Over the next five years the Leeds Radiation Research Centre of Excellence (RadNet CoE) will receive £2.94 million from the charity.

Led by Professor David Sebag-Montefiore, a multidisciplinary team from the University of Leeds and the Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust will set out to deliver smarter and kinder radiotherapy treatments, that are personalised to the patient and their tumour.

By combining a greater understanding of how cancer cells respond to radiotherapy at a molecular level with the latest radiotherapy technology and Artificial Intelligence, researchers in the lab and in the clinic will make improvements in treatments to benefit patients with newly diagnosed cancers and those whose cancers have returned, and potentially give some patients a “second chance of cure”.

The grant, awarded this month, is the second wave of investment into the multimillion-pound Cancer Research UK RadNet radiotherapy research programme, which saw Leeds chosen in 2019 as one of just seven centres of excellence in a UK-wide network that will accelerate advances in radiotherapy research.

Plans for the next five years include research into personalised radiotherapy, re-irradiation, which will explore giving a second course of radiotherapy, and understand biologically why radiotherapy works for some tumours but not others.

Work will focus on rarer tumours, which currently do not have as many treatment options, including brain and liver cancers, and anal, rectal and prostate cancer – disease areas where the team has internationally leading expertise.

Research at RadNet Leeds will combine cancer biology, artificial intelligence, imaging, physics, pathology, data science and clinical trials to accelerate progress and improve cancer outcomes in Leeds, Yorkshire and across the world.

Using Artificial Intelligence, the team will be able to look at complicated data to learn more about which patients will benefit most from radiotherapy and how to target radiotherapy better, allowing them to choose the best treatment with the least side effects.

More than 130,000 patients in the UK are treated with radiotherapy on the NHS every year- from curing early-stage cancer to easing symptoms for people with terminal illness.

In its simplest form, the treatment works by targeting tumours with X-Ray radiation, killing cancer cells by irreversibly damaging their DNA.

Cancer Research UK supported some of the earliest research into the treatment of cancer with radiation, and pioneered the first use of radiotherapy in the 1920s.

Today’s radiotherapy is a sophisticated and potentially curative tool that’s given to around 3 in 10 people with cancer in England.

Rosie Sanderson, from Settle, knows all too well the importance and impact of radiotherapy, having received the treatment for anal cancer.

In 2019 Rosie was diagnosed with anal cancer when she was 61 years old.

She was referred to St James’s University Hospital in Leeds under Professor David Sebag-Montefiore’s team and received radiotherapy as part of her treatment plan, which also included chemotherapy.

She said: “Two to three weeks into my treatment I really started to feel the side-effects, particularly pain and fatigue. By the fourth week, I was no longer able to travel by train or drive myself to treatments. Before I started the treatment, I was a really fit and active person. That loss of independence and the constant exhaustion were a real challenge for me.”

It is hoped the new funding will explore further the possibility of reducing the duration of radiotherapy treatments for patients resulting in fewer side effects.

Rosie added: “Having been through the treatment for anal cancer, I fully appreciate how helpful it would be to have more options in care. The possibility that future patients might not have to face as many side-effects and have shorter treatment is really wonderful.”

With around 33,400 people diagnosed with cancer every year in Yorkshire and the Humber, the need to make faster advances is clear.*

Dr Iain Foulkes, Executive Director of Research and Innovation at Cancer Research UK, said: “Cancer Research UK, and its predecessors, have been at the forefront of radiation research for the past 120 years. Thanks to research, radiotherapy treatment is becoming kinder, more precise and less intensive across different cancers.

"This funding marks a new phase of our RadNet network, advancing research which will further accelerate improvements in radiotherapy treatment in the clinic. This funding will work alongside our investments in pioneering radiotherapy clinical trials to ensure more people can live longer, better lives, free from the fear of cancer.”

Professor David Sebag-Montefiore, Audrey and Stanley Burton Professor of Oncology and Director of the CRUK Centre of Excellence, said: “We are very proud that Leeds has been awarded a further five years of funding, which will allow us to build on the outstanding success of RadNet and accelerate the development of biologically and physically informed personalised radiotherapy for our patients.

"Our interdisciplinary research teams will develop and translate smarter kinder radiotherapy treatments across a broad range of cancers to replace the need for major surgery and a colostomy bag, provide shorter courses of treatment with less side effects, and tailor the choice of treatment.

"This award will bring forward the day when we can deliver a truly personalised approach so that we can say to future patients “this is the right radiotherapy dose, the right number of treatments and the best technology to give you the highest chance of successful treatment with the least side effects.”

Professor Andrew Macdonald, Professor of Tumour Virology and Discovery Lead for RadNet Leeds, said: “We are excited to combine our scientific excellence and outstanding facilities in biological sciences including the Astbury Centre for Structural Molecular Biology to better understand the behavior of the tumour, and connect the lab with the clinic to accelerate progress in translating these findings into new treatment approaches.”

Professor Shearer West CBE, Vice-Chancellor and President of the University of Leeds said: “Leeds scientists are leading efforts to develop novel patient-focused, radiotherapy research. This investment will enable our researchers to continue their work to improve the lives of cancer patients across the city, the region and the world through more precise and targeted treatments.

"Cancer research at Leeds is focused on improving patient outcomes, and RadNet exemplifies health innovation achieved through pioneering techniques, groundbreaking research and collaboration in Leeds.”

Professor Phil Wood, Chief Executive of Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust said: “The Leeds Cancer Centre treats over 7,000 new cancer patients each year with radiotherapy. We are fully committed to providing the best-integrated care through our highly specialised multidisciplinary teams.

“The Centre of Excellence exemplifies our strong partnership with the University of Leeds. At Leeds Teaching Hospitals, we embed research and innovation in everything we do, ensuring we offer our patients the best treatments as soon as possible. We are immensely grateful for the support from Leeds Hospitals Charity and its donors, who raised £2.4 million for the MRI Simulator that opened to patients last year. This simulator will play a vital role in improving the precise targeting of radiotherapy for our patients.”

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