Irish Cancer Society-funded research to be presented at the British Thoracic Oncology Group Conference in Dublin

(Wednesday, January 16th, 2013) Research funded by the Irish Cancer Society that investigates the role of genetic mutations in response to various lung cancer treatment strategies will be presented at the upcoming British Thoracic Oncology Group Conference (BTOG), taking place in The Burlington Hotel, Dublin from Wednesday to Friday, January 23 – 25. The Conference will be attended by over 600 medical professionals who will discuss novel therapies and new research projects.

Initial findings from the study, led by Susan Heavey, PhD student in the Thoracic Oncology Research Group at St James’s Hospital, show that cell lines with particular mutations respond differently than others to combination treatment strategies. The frequency of these mutations is currently being tested in a cohort of 120 lung cancer patients from St James’s Hospital, in collaboration with Prof. Brian Hennessy at Beaumont Hospital.

Ms Heavey’s study looks at genes called ‘P13Ks’, which play a key role in the control of cell growth, and the role these genes play in lung cancer. It also looks at how P13K genes communicate with other genes involved in growth and how the cells behave if one or more of them are inhibited through drug intervention. Further work by Ms Heavey as part of her Irish Cancer Society Scholarship has identified a novel regulator of chemotherapeutic resistance in lung cancer.

 “Lung Cancer has overtaken breast cancer as the biggest cause of cancer death in women in Ireland, and has the highest mortality rate of all cancers combined with less than 12 per cent of patients surviving five years after diagnosis,” said Ms Heavey. “My hope is that by the end of this project, we will be able to predict which types of lung cancer patients will benefit most from these new drugs, as well as which treatments are used most successfully in combination. However, further validation through clinical trials is needed.”

Experiments on the lung cancer cells were completed in the lab, as well as on tissue samples donated by lung cancer patients in St James’s Hospital, to determine how beneficial new drugs might be to patients. A Biobank facility, established and located at St James’s Hospital was central to this lung cancer research. The only lung cancer Biobank in Ireland, it enabled Ms Heavey and the team to investigate genes in lung cancer tissue samples from over 700 lung cancer patients.

Professor John Fitzpatrick, Head of Research at the Irish Cancer Society, which is the largest voluntary funder of cancer research in Ireland said, “We know that with early detection, there is a very real chance of effective treatment for lung cancer.  In an era of personalised medicine, Susan Heavey’s research and patient genotyping will give us a better understanding of how patients may respond to combination treatment strategies and hopefully will make lung cancer controllable in the future.”

Approximately €120,000 of the Irish Cancer Society’s total €3.3 million investment in cancer research in 2011 went towards Ms Heavey’s three year PhD project at St James’s Hospital, where she is under the supervision of Dr. Kathy Gately and Prof. Ken O’Byrne

Since the Irish Cancer Society was established, cancer research funded by the Society has led to major advances in our understanding of malignant disease and more than 650 important research findings have been discovered. The Society has contributed more than €30 million to cancer research since 1963, and now in its 50th year, the Society’s vision for cancer research is focused on achieving world-class discoveries to improve outcomes for patients throughout Ireland, and beyond.