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Tessa Jowell is right to call for more flexible cancer research

Thursday 25 January 2018

PROFESSOR Michael P Lisanti says the case for a wider funnel of evidence in the creation of cancer treatment is stronger than ever.

The Chair of Translational Medicine, whose team focus their research on cheap, non-toxic treatments for cancer considers Tessa Jowell's intervention after the diagnosis of her brain cancer.

Tessa Jowell has movingly spoken to Parliament about her cancer and her belief that mainstream ways of testing cancer treatments should be more flexible. 

"A whole range of 'drugs' could be added to existing trials"

"Our research at the University of Salford supports her case; we have long been asserting that a whole range of natural and chemical substances with anti-cancer properties are not being looked at to help fight cancer. Neither are they being added to existing trials to test them in parallel, so we are locked into a linear model of clinical trials, and time is against us.

"Our evidence suggests that Vitamin C and other non-toxic compounds have a role to play to target cancer stem cells (CSCs), thereby helping to prevent tumour recurrence, further disease progression and metastasis.  

"Vitamin  C is cheap, natural, non-toxic and readily available, so to have it as a potential weapon in the fight against cancer would be a significant step.  

"We are looking at a range of other non-toxic substances, many of them are repurposed FDA-approved drugs and over-the-counter-remedies, which could aid patients, without bombarding the body with toxins.  

"Our approach to stopping cancer is different; to disrupt the metabolism of the cells that help cancer grow and spread. It's a bit like stopping a car by removing the battery or draining the fuel tank rather than using a more toxic approach.  

"It is important that there are a range of approaches adopted by the medical and clinical communities, especially towards new clinical trials for this disease."