Food For Thought In Cancer Prevention, UK

Main Category: Cancer / Oncology
Also Included In: Nutrition / Diet;  Smoking / Quit Smoking
Article Date: 02 Oct 2007 - 11:00 PDT

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University of Leicester scientists are looking at the role agents derived from food could play in cancer prevention

While changes in lifestyle - particularly in smoking and diet - could dramatically reduce the risk of cancer and the financial burden to the NHS, people often find it difficult to make these changes.

Medical scientists, therefore, are developing prevention strategies that combine maximum benefit with minimum side effects. Many of them are based on agents derived from food, as Professor Will Steward, Department of Cancer Studies and Molecular Medicine, University of Leicester, UK, will be outlining in his presentation to the National Cancer Research Institute Conference in Birmingham on Tuesday 2nd October.

Cancer incidence is increasing and the cost of caring for patients with established malignancy is causing major strains for all healthcare systems. At the same time, researchers have observed striking differences in incidence of many cancers in different societies. This has led to suggested lifestyle factors which may affect cancer risk.

The increasing understanding of the biological changes associated with carcinogenesis have led to the development of cancer prevention strategies based on the use of targeted agents. The aim of these agents is to delay or prevent the development of malignancy - 'chemoprevention' approaches.

To date the greatest success in this field has come from the use of drugs with shown effect in advanced malignancy. But increasingly research is focused on diet-derived agents that have the potential for efficacy with minimal risk of toxicity.

Prof Steward commented: "Although many lifestyle changes and putative chemopreventive agents have been identified as having the potential to modify cancer risk, clinical trials to prove an effect are notoriously difficult and costly to undertake.

"There is an urgent need to identify surrogate biomarkers which could help to predict efficacy. Trials can also be completed more quickly by using 'high risk' individuals who are increasingly being identified using genetic and other markers.

"Successful cancer prevention strategies would have a marked benefit for society but can only be achieved with focused research and well designed collaborative clinical trials. Developments in these areas will be discussed during this symposium."

The NCRI Cancer Conference takes place between 30th September and 3rd October at the International Convention Centre in Birmingham. Further information can be found on: - http://www.ncri.org.uk/ncriconference/

About the NCRI Cancer Conference

The National Cancer Research Institute (NCRI) Cancer Conference is the UK's premier forum for disseminating advances across all aspects of cancer research.

AstraZeneca is the gold sponsor for the NCRI Cancer Conference 2007.

About the NCRI

The National Cancer Research Institute (NCRI) was established in April 2001. It is a partnership between government, the voluntary sector and the private sector, with the primary mission of maximising patient benefit that accrues from cancer research in the UK through coordination of effort and joint planning towards an integrated national strategy for cancer research. http://www.ncri.org.uk

The NCRI consists of: The Association of British Pharmaceutical Industry (ABPI); The Association for International Cancer Research; The Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council; Breakthrough Breast Cancer; Breast Cancer Campaign; Cancer Research UK; Department of Health; Economic and Social Research Council; Leukaemia Research Fund; Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research; Macmillan Cancer Support; Marie Curie Cancer Care; The Medical Research Council; Northern Ireland Health and Personal Social Services Research & Development Office; Roy Castle Lung Cancer Foundation; Scottish Executive Health Department; Tenovus; Wales Office of Research and Development for Health & Social Care; Wellcome Trust; and Yorkshire Cancer Research.

University of Leicester

A member of the 1994 Group of universities that share a commitment to research excellence, high quality teaching and an outstanding student experience.

- Ranked top for student satisfaction in England (jointly with Oxford) among mainstream universities (average score of 4.4 out of 5 for overall satisfaction)
- Ranked as a Top 20 university by The Sunday Times University Guide, The Guardian University Guide and the UK Good University Guide
- One of just 23 UK universities to feature in world's top 200- Shanghai Jiao Tong International Index, 2005-07.
- Short listed University of the Year in 2007 by The Sunday Times and Short listed Higher Education Institution of the Year - THES awards 2005 and 2006
- Students' Union of the Year award 2005, short listed 2006

Founded in 1921, the University of Leicester has 19,000 students from 136 countries. Teaching in 18 subject areas has been graded Excellent by the Quality Assurance Agency- including 14 successive scores - a consistent run of success matched by just one other UK University. Leicester is world renowned for the invention of DNA Fingerprinting by Professor Sir Alec Jeffreys and houses Europe's biggest academic Space Research Centre. 90% of staff are actively engaged in high quality research and 13 subject areas have been awarded the highest rating of 5* and 5 for research quality, demonstrating excellence at an international level. The University's research grant income places it among the top 20 UK research universities. The University employs over 3,000 people, has an annual turnover of £184m, covers an estate of 94 hectares and is engaged in a £300m investment programme- among the biggest of any UK university.

http://www.leicester.ac.uk