Project could ‘revolutionise’ treatment of common cancer

The charity Leukaemia & Lymphoma Research has given £250,000 for the project at Leeds University which could hold the key to saving the lives of patients with blood cancers known as non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma.

Cancer cell samples and anonymous medical records from patients treated in Yorkshire will be stored to guide how similar patients are treated in future.

The condition is diagnosed in around 10,000 people a year in the UK but genetic faults in individual’s cancer cels can affect whether key drugs will be effective.

It is expected techniques developed in the study could “revolutionise” treatment allowing doctors to search the database for similar past cases to inform current treatments.

Matt Kaiser, head of research at Leukaemia & Lymphoma Research, said: “This is a pioneering approach that may have ramifications for how we view and treat all cancers.”