Yorkshire Philosophical Society

Event Information

“Why can’t we cure all cancers?”

Professor Thomas Hughes, Professor of Biosciences, York St John University

Cancer is an increasingly common disease in the UK, for example breast cancer is diagnosed in the lifetimes of approximately one in every seven women and colorectal cancer in approximately one in every 16 people. Some patients can be cured by treatment, but unfortunately this is not the case for all. My group is interested in understanding the reasons for these differences in treatment success, and using these insights to design improved treatments. In this talk, I will discuss two key ideas and how these have guided us to develop new strategies for therapy.

Firstly, cancers are often a collection of different types of cells, most of which are not cancer cells themselves. These other cell types, referred to as ‘stromal’ cells, act to support the cancer cells or are part of the body’s defence against the cancer.  In the past, researchers focused just on the cancer cells, but more recently the importance of stromal cells has been realised. My group has found that some of these stromal cells protect breast cancer cells from chemotherapy, meaning that treatment is less effective.  Most importantly, we have developed an additional therapy that can stop this protection, allowing chemotherapy to work properly and improving cancer cell killing.

Secondly, cancer drugs are usually delivered throughout the body in the blood, and the side-effects caused in tissues other than the cancer limit the doses we can use safely. This reduces how effectively we can kill cancer cells. My group has developed methods to deliver cancer drugs directly to the cancer cells only, by packaging the drugs into tiny ‘nanoparticles’. This can increase doses in the cancer cells and therefore kill them more effectively, while potentially reducing side-effects elsewhere.

Modern cancer therapy is developing rapidly, and we are moving towards personalised therapies that target the specific requirements of the individual and their cancer. Our new therapeutic strategies could make a difference in patients with cancers that are rich in stromal cells and have resisted chemotherapy, and patients that are especially susceptible to chemotherapy side-effects.

7pm in the Tempest Anderson Lecture Theatre in the Yorkshire Museum on Tuesday 11 February 2025.