Our researchers became the first in the country to collect a bladder cancer sample for the 100,000 Genome Project, a UK-wide programme developing targeted treatments for cancer patients.
Transforming healthcare
The 100,000 Genome Project is a national initiative that aims to identify the underlying genetic causes of cancer and rare diseases by analysing the genome – a person’s complete set of genetic information. Southampton is one of 13 centres across the UK collecting 100,000 samples from patients and their relatives in an effort to build a new genomic medicine service for the NHS.
Southampton was one of the first centres to join the project in May 2015, and leads the Genomic Medicine Centre for the Wessex region. Now leading the way for bladder cancer, we have already collected samples from patients with lung, breast, colorectal and kidney cancer.
Rapid response
One of our dedicated genomics assistant for the project, Jane Dare, was instrumental in ensuring we were the first in the country to collect a bladder cancer sample. She approached the patient and, with their consent, coordinated the collection of their blood and tumour samples.
Just two weeks after Genomics England, (the Department of Health funded company charged with delivering this project), first announced they were accepting bladder cancer samples, oncologists Dr Ellen Copson and Dr Simon Crabb, surgeon Mr James Douglas, and pathologists Dr Emily Shaw and Dr Hannah Markham put the Wessex GMC on the map as the first centre to collect samples from a patient with this type of cancer.
Beating bladder cancer
Around 10,000 people are diagnosed with bladder cancer each year in the UK, making it the seventh most common cancer. It mainly affects in people over the age of 75 and is more common in men, with around half of all cases caused by smoking. The first symptom is usually blood in the urine.
By analysing the genomes of cancer patients, the 100,000 Genome Project aims to usher in a new age of ‘precision medicine’, where a person’s genetics is used to determine which treatments will be most effective for them.
Instead of the current one-size-fits-all approach, precision medicine will provide tailored treatments for subsets of patients. The hope is that by tailoring their treatment, cancer patients will have a better survival rate, avoiding the need for surgery or with a shorter course of chemotherapy.
Posted on Monday 13 June 2016