Patients test new cancer therapies

They have been involved in more than 250 trials at the Leeds Cancer Research UK Centre after it became one of the first to join a chain of research centres across the UK.

The move has put the city at the forefront of cancer research and is bringing direct benefits to more patients in the region by making it easier for laboratory researchers to work alongside doctors treating patients on wards and deliver breakthroughs in research more quickly.

Among those who have benefited is Teri Wadsworth, 51, who was diagnosed with breast cancer in January 2009 after first developing an itch which she thought was an allergy to washing powder.

Despite chemotherapy, surgery and radiotherapy, the illness returned and spread to her skin. Further treatment followed but she developed side-effects as a result.

As treatment options were reducing, in September last year she moved onto a trial of another chemotherapy drug eribulin, which was originally derived from sea sponge, in combination with another therapy.

The cancer symptoms “practically disappeared” until she had to reduce the dose because of side-effects and it re-appeared on her back.

“The trial has been absolutely brilliant and the unit is fantastic – I cannot praise staff there enough,” said Ms Wadsworth, a retired NHS manager of Pudsey, near Leeds.

She knows she is unlikely to be cured of cancer but is hoping it can be kept on hold and that being on the trial will help others.

“If anyone is unsure about clinical trials they should consider them – certainly from my point of view it’s been a lifeline,” she added.

Research on the trial involving her consultant Prof Chris Twelves and colleagues abroad has led to the drug being approved for use in Europe and the United States.

Prof Twelves said: “This study establishes a new treatment option for women with advanced breast cancer that had spread and where other, established treatments are no longer effective. The good news is eribulin can improve survival for these women.

“We are now looking at how we can combine eribulin with other chemotherapy drugs for the treatment of women with earlier stages of breast cancer.”

Research centre chairman Prof Tim Bishop said: “The centre has stimulated new ways of working and built closer links with scientists, doctors, chemists, physicists, biologists and engineers on site, working hard to bring treatments from the lab to the clinic much faster.

“It is a huge benefit for patients to be on clinical trials and we are delighted that so many have been recruited from across Leeds and the wider region in the last year.”

Among other patients to benefit from the trials is Terry Windle, 72, of Penistone, who was first diagnosed with cancer 30 years ago which returned in 2004.

He could not be at celebrations to mark the first anniversary of the centre yesterday – he is embarking on a 1,500-mile trip on a Harley Davidson motorcycle on the famous US Route 66.