A team of University of Cambridge researchers were recently the winners of a Tomorrow's World award for their development of a revolutionary new screening test for cancer.
A team of University of Cambridge researchers were recently the winners of a Tomorrow's World award for their development of a revolutionary new screening test for cancer.
A team of University of Cambridge researchers were recently the winners of a Tomorrow's World award for their development of a revolutionary new screening test for cancer.
Professor Laskey, who is leading the research, is based at the Wellcome Trust/Cancer Research Campaign Institute and the university's Department of Zoology.
Professor Laskey's research team scooped the BBC science programme's Health Innovation Award, in a ceremony broadcast on Wednesday 5 July.
Together with colleagues Dr Gareth Williams and Dr Nick Coleman, from the university's Department of Pathology, Professor Laskey has developed a prototype screening test, called the Campaign Test, to detect cancerous and pre-cancerous changes in the bowel, lung, breast, bladder, mouth and cervix.
The new test represents a major step forward in analysing samples taken from patients.
The Campaign Test uses specific antibodies that home in on any abnormal cells found in the samples. These antibodies work by attaching themselves to specific proteins (called Cdc6 and MCM5), which are found in rapidly dividing cancer cells. The antibodies are then labelled with a fluorescent or coloured dye, highlighting the location of the abnormal cells so that experts can see them more easily.
These labelled antibodies can be used in combination with the conventional Papanicolaou stain (the so-called Pap test) that is currently used to analyse cervical smear samples, in order to decrease the frequency of false-negative results. The Director General of the Cancer Research Campaign, Professor Gordon McVie, believes that the Campaign Test could dramatically reduce the current error rate for cervical smear tests, saving thousands of lives.
The Campaign Test has potential to be used on cells found in a range of easily accessible patient samples, such as urine, faeces or sputum, as well as on cervical or oral cell smears.
Professor Laskey's group hopes that, in the future, their method may lead to the development of simple general screening tests for a range of cancers - particularly bowel and lung cancers, for which there are currently no established screening methods.
Further information:
Professor Ron Laskey's home page. Tel: 01223 334106; E-mail: ral19@cam.ac.uk
The Cancer Research Campaign home page. Tel: 0207 4873768; E-mail: Press Centre@crc.org.uk
The Tomorrow's World home page.
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