For Non-Scientists

Cancer develops in part as a result of genetic changes (mutations) that may be inherited or acquired by cells in the body. We aim to find out what the important mutations are for the growth of cancers. We are particularly interested in cancers of the bowel, kidney womb and gullet.

Our work includes the study of humans who have developed cancer, especially people who have a history of particular types of cancer in their family. By comparing people who have had cancer with people who have not developed the disease, we can identify genes that are important in increasing someone's risk of cancer. One application of this work is to identify people whose risk of cancer is increased and then to screen them for that cancer with the aim of catching the disease at an early stage.

Similarly, when cancers are removed from patients at operation, there is usually some spare cancer available. By studying this, we can look to see how the DNA of cancer cells is different from their normal counterparts. in this way, we can begin to work out what are the most important changes in the DNA on which the cancer depends for its growth. One application of this work would be to design new treatments for cancer based on the DNA changes present in the cancer cells and not in the normal cells, so that those treatments only affect the cancer and not the rest of the body.

In addition to working directly on patients and their tumours, some of the questions we are trying to answer can only be addressed  by looking in model systems. We therefore also try to find out how our cancer genes act by looking at their effects on cells' growth in the laboratory or in mice that carry the same genetic changes as the human patients. Again, the aims of this work are to find new ways of preventing and treating human cancer.