The latest news, stories and exciting findings from across the Oxford cancer research community
Immune cells hunt down cancer around the body – discovery could lead to personalised treatments for advanced breast cancer
2 May 2024
Scientists have discovered the key features of immune B cells which make them successful at targeting tumours – including when cancer has spread to a different part of the body.
Researchers uncover link between DNA methylation and inflammation
29 April 2024
A study published by the Fairfax Group in Cell Genomics has identified a connection between inflammation and DNA methylation that could have implications for long-term cancer and other health risks.
New study reveals how T cells gain and maintain tolerance to gut bacteria
10 April 2024
The immune system in the intestine maintains a careful balance, tolerating our long-term resident (commensal) gut bacteria while defending against invading pathogens. Under certain circumstances, dysregulation of our intestinal immune response to commensal and pathogenic microbes can drive inflammatory disease.
University of Oxford Lung cancer trial reaches 400 participants
8 April 2024
The SCOOT study seeks current and former smokers across England to provide blood samples for ongoing research aiming to improve lung cancer diagnosis.
£9m to Oxford for the Next Generation of Cancer Experts
4 April 2024
Cancer Research UK awards funding to the CRUK Oxford Centre to support future cancer research leaders.
OCION: In conversation with Tim Elliott
28 March 2024
Through the Oxford Cancer Immuno-Oncology Network (OCION), we aim to realise the long-term curative benefits of immunotherapy for more patients by devising new treatments, broadening the impact of existing treatments, and reducing side effects. We sat down with Director, Tim Elliott, to discuss further.
£1.7 million for vaccine to prevent lung cancer
22 March 2024
Oxford and UCL researchers seeking to create the world’s first vaccine to prevent lung cancer in people at high risk of the disease have been granted up to £1.7 million from Cancer Research UK and the CRIS Cancer Foundation.
Funding to compare imaging modalities for liver cancer detection
15 March 2024
The DeLIVER team will evaluate non-contrast-enhanced MRI and compare it to standard of care ultrasound in a cohort of patients under surveillance for liver cancer.
Ultrasensitive detection of p53 cancer biomarker
15 March 2024
Professor Jason Davis and team have developed a new sensor to selectively and quantitatively measure p53 autoantibodies in the blood, levels of which are raised in a broad range of cancers.
Research team receives $25m Cancer Grand Challenges award
7 March 2024
A global, interdisciplinary team of researchers has been selected to receive a Cancer Grand Challenges award of up to $25m over five years to tackle the solid tumours in children challenge.
AI reveals prostate cancer is not just one disease
29 February 2024
Artificial Intelligence has helped scientists reveal a new form of aggressive prostate cancer which could revolutionise how the disease is diagnosed and treated in the future.
OCION Funding Scheme: In conversation with Alistair Easton
23 February 2024
The mission of the Oxford Cancer Immuno-Oncology Network (OCION) Funding Scheme is to pump-prime innovative Oxford-based immuno-oncology research and build capacity in cancer immunology. We sat down with 2023 awardee, Alistair Easton, to discuss what research the fund will enable him to carry out.
CRUK funding success for Audrey Gérard
14 February 2024
Audrey Gérard has received £ 1.5 million in funding from CRUK for a new research project to unravel the coevolving cancer and immune landscape.
New study provides framework for optimising the design of antibody therapeutics
13 February 2024
New research has uncovered how antibodies trigger immune receptors in T cells. This breakthrough provides an improved framework for designing therapeutic antibodies, which could be used in new and better therapies for cancer and autoimmune diseases.
Crowd-sourcing approach assesses current methods for improved automated detection and boundary mapping of colorectal cancer precursors
5 February 2024
A computer vision challenge was set to objectively quantify the generalisability of polyp detection and mapping algorithms, and challenge participants to innovate novel methods.
World Cancer Day: Oxford University professors on the record with their contribution to the fight against cancer
4 February 2024
Principal Investigators at the University talk candidly about their work and how they’re helping the fight against cancer.
AI-based method provides insights for predicting colorectal cancer outcomes
2 February 2024
The largest multiparameter immunoprofiling study in cancer to date has suggested an underappreciated role of a subset of immune cells in determining the risk of bowel cancer relapse after surgery.
Patient and Public Involvement and Engagement: Working together to improve Cancer Care by Sue Duncombe
1 February 2024
Sue Duncombe shares her experience of Patient and Public Involvement and Engagement. After her husband died of prostate cancer, Sue wanted to support research in the hope other families wouldn't experience the same loss.
Study assesses long-term risk of invasive breast cancer after pre-invasive disease
31 January 2024
Women who are diagnosed with ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS) outside the NHS breast screening programme are around four times as likely to develop invasive breast cancer and to die from breast cancer than women in the general population, finds new study published by The BMJ.
First patient recruited to MILI trial
26 January 2024
Oxford’s first precision prevention cancer trial in people with Li Fraumeni Syndrome has opened to recruitment