Bowel cancer

Bowel cancer is diagnosed in about 38,600 people in the UK every year – that’s more than 100 every day. Thanks to improved treatment and earlier detection, five-year survival rates for bowel cancer have doubled over the last 30 years. But sadly, it is still the second most common cause of cancer death in the UK, claiming around 44 lives each day.

Cancer Research UK is the largest single funder of bowel cancer research in the UK. We fund research into all aspects of the disease.

Our scientists are playing a leading role in identifying the genes that increase therisk of developing bowel cancer, and in testing new treatments for the disease.

Over half of people diagnosed with bowel cancer will now survive beyond five years. Our ambition is to further improve on this by finding new ways to prevent, diagnose and treat the disease.

Help us to achieve this by donating the money you raise for Shine to bowel cancer research.

Our bowel cancer research

Professor Alan Clarke is Director of the Cancer Research UK Centre in Cardiff and a pioneer in his field. Together with his team of researchers, he is carrying out some of the most advanced genetic science in the world.

To save more lives from bowel cancer, we need a better understanding of the disease. It’s only with this knowledge that more targeted and more effective treatments can be created, transforming the outlook for future bowel cancer patients.

Professor Clarke’s team is aiming to understand the tiny genetic alterations in our cells which set off the catastrophic chain of events that leads to bowel cancer. They have already found two a range of molecules that are involved in bowel cancer growth.

The next step is to develop ways to switch off these molecules, turning the team’s lab discoveries into life-saving treatments for people with bowel cancer.

“If we understand why a cancer grows, then we stand a much better chance of creating targeted treatments that can put a stop to it”
Professor Alan Clarke

Enter Shine 2011 and and help beat bowel cancer.

Breast cancer

Breast cancer is now the most common cancer in the UK. Over 125 women are diagnosed with the cancer every day. Men also get breast cancer but it is rare - affecting around 300 each year in the UK.

Our work has helped to transform breast cancer treatment - now 8 of 10 women survive their disease beyond 5 years, compared with 5 of 10 women in the 1970s. But around 12,000 women and 70 men still die from the disease each year in the UK, so there’s still much more to do.

Cancer Research UK is the largest single funder of breast cancer research in the UK, investigating all aspects of the disease, from prevention to treatment. Our world-class research is aimed at decreasing the number of cases of breast cancer and increasing survival rates.

We can only continue this groundbreaking work with your help - you can direct the money you raise for Shine to help beat breast cancer.

Research into breast cancer

"Many, many people, including myself, believe that prevention is the way forward. This is the largest, and arguably the most important, prevention trial in the world."
Professor Jack Cuzick

Professor Jack Cuzick is coordinating a large clinical trial called the International Breast Cancer Intervention Study II (IBIS-II). The trial will find out whether the drug anastrozole can help prevent breast cancer in healthy post-menopausal women at increased risk of the disease.

Anastrozole is known to be an effective drug for preventing the recurrence of breast cancer after treatment, but this is the first time it has been tested for use in preventing the disease developing in healthy women.

The IBIS-II trial is recruiting 10,000 post-menopausal women from more than 40 hospitals worldwide. The women taking part are at increased risk of breast cancer - for example, some have a strong family history of the disease.

Professor Cuzick’s team is internationally recognised as one of the leading groups in its field. The IBIS-II study relies on the help of many doctors and scientists around the world, as well as the thousands of women who are taking part.

Ultimately, this study could help to prevent thousands of women from developing breast cancer in the future.

Enter Shine 2011 and help beat breast cancer.

Prostate cancer

Prostate cancer is the most common cancer in men in the UK, with around 36,100 cases diagnosed every year - that’s around 99 every day.

But the good news is that more than three-quarters of men diagnosed with prostate cancer now survive beyond five years. In the 1970s it was less than a third.

But prostate cancer is still the second most common cause of cancer death in UK men, and claims almost 10,200 lives each year. So it is crucial that we find new ways to tackle the disease.

Cancer Research UK is a major funder of prostate cancer research in the UK. Our work spans all the way from uncovering the causes to developing better ways to treat men with the disease.

A key ambition is to develop effective new drugs to improve survival for men with prostate cancer that has become resistant to other treatments. .

We are committed to reducing the number of deaths from prostate cancer.

Help us by donating the money you raise for Shine to prostate cancer research.

Personalising treatment

Professor Simon Mackay is leading a large team of scientific experts at the University of Strathclyde who are working together to discover better drugs for men with prostate cancer that has become resistant to hormone treatments.

Traditional chemotherapy treatments work by killing rapidly dividing cells in the body. But this means that patients can also experience unpleasant side effects, as healthy cells are also affected. So Cancer Research UK scientists are working hard to develop drugs that target and kill cancer cells specifically, while aiming to leave healthy cells unharmed.

Professor Mackay’s exciting drug discovery programme aims to identify new chemicals that specifically target prostate cancer cells. One aspect involves purifying chemicals from plants and testing their potential one by one in lab tests. The team will further develop the most promising compounds for testing in future clinical trials.

If successful, this important project could improve survival for thousands of men affected by prostate cancer in the future.

“This project has a dedicated, enthusiastic team who are committed to drug discovery and to treating cancer.” Professor Simon Mackay

Enter Shine 2011 and help beat prostate cancer.
 

Lung cancer

Lung cancer is the second most common cancer in the UK and each year around 39,500 people are diagnosed with the disease, that’s around 108 people every day. Around nine out of ten cases of lung cancer are caused by smoking.

Cancer Research UK has been instrumental in raising public awareness of lung cancer and the dangers of smoking, as well as influencing government policy on tobacco. Most recently, we played a key role in helping to secure a ban on tobacco displays in shops and the prohibition of tobacco vending machines. The measures are vital to protect children from tobacco marketing and prevent their easy access to tobacco products.

The good news is that lung cancer rates in the UK are dropping thanks to fewer people smoking.  But while there have been huge improvements in survival for many other types of cancer, progress in curing people with lung cancer has been slower.

Cancer Research UK is the largest single funder of lung cancer research in the UK, working to find new ways to prevent, diagnose and treat the disease.

As part of our five-year research strategy, we are committed to increasing our investment in this area.

Help us achieve this by donating the money you raise for Shine to our lung cancer research.

Our work to improve treatment

Dr Fergus Macbeth is leading an important clinical trial testing whether a blood thinning drug called dalteparin can improve survival for people with lung cancer.

Blood clots are quite common in people who have lung cancer. Unfortunately, they can cause side effects, which can sometimes be life-threatening. 

Doctors think dalteparin might help prevent blood clots forming in people with lung cancer. They also think the drug might help slow down or stop cancer cells spreading to other parts of the body.

The trial, called FRAGMATIC, will show whether a daily injection of dalteparin alongside standard treatment can improve survival and reduce the number of blood clots people develop. If successful, the drug may be incorporated into standard care for lung cancer patients in the future - improving the outlook and quality of life for people with this common form of cancer.

The trial is coordinated at the Wales Cancer Trials Unit in Cardiff, and is aiming to recruit 2,200 patients from hospitals in Wales and across the UK.

Enter Shine 2011 and help beat lung cancer.

Childrens' cancers

There have been major advances in treatment of childhood cancers and around three-quarters of children are now successfully treated.

Many of the world’s most successful trials of children’s cancer treatments have been funded by Cancer Research UK. Our research has helped to transform survival rates for children with the disease.

Cancer Research UK is the largest single funder of research into children’s cancer in the UK. We fund the work of the Children’s Cancer Trials Team (CCTT) who co-ordinate groundbreaking clinical trials in 21 centres across the UK and Ireland.

These trials bring cutting edge science from the lab to the bedside, making innovative new treatments available for children with cancer. The money you raise at Shine will go directly towards our vital research into children’s cancers.

Helping more children beat cancer

Professor Vaskar Saha heads the Cancer Research UK Children's Research Group in Manchester. His team are international experts in acute lymphoblastic leukaemia (ALL) and are working tirelessly to improve survival in children with this cancer.

Thanks to improvments in chemotherapy, around 4 in 5 children with ALL are now successfully treated. But despite this fantastic improvement, it still means that treatment fails in some children with the disease. Professor Saha’s goals are to find ways to predict which children will not respond to current treatments and to develop potential new drugs to give them instead. As he is also a cancer doctor who treats children with the disease, he is ideally placed to take his lab findings into the clinic as quickly as possible.

Cancer Research UK has funded Professor Saha's groundbreaking research for the past 17 years. Under his expert guidance, the team has all the necessary skills and experience to help fight childhood leukaemia.

We are committed to improving survival for every child with cancer. Professor Saha’s vital work offers hope to the 1 in 5 children with ALL who cannot currently be treated successfully.

"You need to know why some children are being cured, and from that try to figure out why some aren’t.”
Professor Vaskar Saha

Enter Shine 2011 and help support Cancer Research UK’s work into children’s cancers.

Brain cancer

Brain cancer affects around 8,500 people each year in the UK and there are many different types. Unfortunately, there has been limited improvement in survival rates for brain cancer, so there is an urgent need to improve the treatment of this type of cancer.
 

Cancer Research UK funds a broad range of research to improve the detection, diagnosis and treatment of brain cancer and our knowledge of its causes. Our research has fed into the development of new drugs to treat brain tumours, and our scientists are exploring the genetic changes that can lead to the disease.

But we’re aware that we need to do so much more to improve the outlook for people with brain cancer.

Help us by dedicating the money you raise at Shine to our vital brain cancer research.

Working to beat brain cancer

Dr Susan Short at University College London is carrying out crucial lab research to gain a deeper understanding of how certain brain cancer cells survive radiotherapy. Her work could lead to the development of new drugs that make this treatment more effective, improving the outlook for many people with brain cancer.

The team is studying cells from gliomas – the most common type of brain tumour - in the lab to understand more about the way they respond to radiotherapy. They want to understand how some glioma cells can repair the damage caused by radiotherapy and survive the treatment.

This important research could ultimately lead to new ways to target glioma cells to make them more sensitive to radiotherapy, improving survival for many thousands of people who develop these brain tumours in the future.

Enter Shine 2011 and help beat brain cancer.

Cancer Research UK's work

Cancer Research UK is the world's leading charity dedicated to saving lives through research. Our groundbreaking work into the prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of cancer has seen survival rates double in the last 40 years. Our scientists and doctors have contributed to most of the world’s top cancer drugs and we have pioneered the use of radiotherapy to treat cancer.

More than one in three of us will get cancer at some point in our lives. Our research to beat cancer is entirely funded by the public. And thanks to their generosity, our scientists, doctors and nurses are leading the world in discovering new ways to fight cancer. Research saves lives and our work is critical to ensuring more people beat this devastating disease.

Your support, our impact..

By choosing to raise money for our general work you will be helping us tackle different types of cancer from every angle - from studying cancer and cancer risk in over a million people in the UK, to our world-leading role in discovering new cancer drugs.

In almost every type of cancer, we support more research in the UK than any other funder. Find out more about the different types of research we fund to beat cancer.


Enter Shine 2011 and help us continue our life-saving work..

Skin cancer

Around 10,670 people are diagnosed with melanoma skin cancer each year, that’s around 29 every day. And the number is increasing at an alarming rate – over the last twenty-five years, rates of the disease in Britain have risen faster than any other common cancer.

Most skin cancers are caused by excessive exposure to harmful UV rays from the sun or sunbeds. If detected early, there is a good chance of successful treatment but sadly, if the cancer has spread to other parts of the body, the outlook is much poorer.

Cancer Research UK is the largest single funder of skin cancer research in the UK. Our research focuses on understanding the biology of skin cancer and developing new treatments particularly for melanoma that has begun to spread. We also play a vital role in raising public awareness of skin cancer, its early symptoms and the dangers of too much sun exposure, through our national SunSmart campaign.

You can donate the vital funds you raise for Shine to help us beat skin cancer.

Meet Angharad – cancer survivor

Angharad Owen, from Nantwich in Cheshire, was diagnosed with malignant melanoma aged 21.

She had been a regular sunbed user from the age of 13 onwards.

Angharad, who is now aged 24, underwent surgery to remove a large tumour from her arm, and skin from her leg was used for the skin graft onto her right arm. She also underwent three weeks of radiotherapy treatment.

“My outlook on life has changed completely since being diagnosed with cancer at such a young age. I just hope that what happened to me will discourage other young people from using sunbeds.

“I was using them every day and it never occurred to me that they were dangerous or I could be putting my life at risk. I am happy to be alive and am now fighting to get back to being fully fit and getting on with the rest of my life.”

Enter Shine 2011 and help more people beat skin cancer.

Ovarian cancer

Ovarian cancer is the fifth most common cancer in UK women, with nearly 6,700 cases diagnosed every year. That means around 130 women every week are told they have the disease.

The good news is that since the 1970s, five-year survival rates for ovarian cancer have doubled. But the outlook for women with ovarian cancer is much better if the cancer is diagnosed early. Sadly, ovarian cancer is often diagnosed at a late stage.

Cancer Research UK is the largest single funder of ovarian cancer research in the UK.

Our aim is to reduce the number of women losing their lives to ovarian cancer through our groundbreaking research. Finding better ways to detect the disease earlier is a key part of achieving this ambition, as well as developing more effective treatments for advanced disease.

You can donate the vital funds you raise for Shine to help us beat ovarian cancer.

Screening for ovarian cancer

"The UKCTOCS trial is the largest trial of its kind ever run to investigate ovarian cancer and we are enormously grateful to the women who have taken part. It will conclude in just over five years and if the findings are positive my hope is that what we learn will pave the way for a national ovarian cancer screening programme.”
Professor Ian Jacobs

At present, only women with a strong family history of ovarian cancer are closely monitored for signs of the disease. But routine screening of all post-menopausal women may lead to early diagnosis and successful treatment in many more cases.

Cancer Research UK is helping to fund a large trial to see whether a screening programme for ovarian cancer could help save lives.

The trial is co-ordinated by Professor Ian Jacobs at University College London. It is testing whether either screening by ultrasound scanning, or a blood test, can save lives. The trial is the first of its kind, involving 200,000 post-menopausal women at 13 hospitals around the UK.

The early results look encouraging - suggesting that routine screening may lead to early diagnosis in many more cases. But we’ll have to wait until 2015 when the trial has finished, before we know whether screening can actually help reduce deaths from the disease.

This important study will help inform decisions on any future national screening programme for ovarian cancer.

Enter Shine 2011 and help beat ovarian cancer.

Leukaemia

Leukaemia is the name given to certain cancers of white cells in the blood and bone marrow. This type of cancer affects around 7,000 people every year in the UK, that’s around 20 people each day.

Survival rates for leukaemia have increased slowly since the 1970s. Back then, around 1 in 10 people diagnosed with the disease survived beyond five years. Now it’s around 4 in 10.

Our scientists made a key discovery in the 1960s that helped lay the foundation for the development of a drug called imatinib (Glivec). This drug has transformed the outlook for people with chronic myeloid leukaemia. But there’s still a long way to go to improve survival for other forms of the disease.

Our scientists are working to transform treatment of leukaemia. A detailed knowledge of the gene alterations that cause the disease is providing leads for novel treatments tailored to individual patients.

Help us carry out vital research to save more lives from leukaemia in the future.

Our work to improve treatment

Professor Alan Burnett at the University of Cardiff is currently leading two trials to find new and better treatments for people with acute myeloid leukaemia (AML). One focuses on patients who are over 60 years of age, while the other is recruiting younger people.

Both trials are testing a number of different combinations of chemotherapy drugs to find out which is better at controlling the disease and preventing it from coming back, and which causes the fewest side effects.

For example, the researchers are testing the benefits of adding a new drug called Mylotarg to chemotherapy. Mylotarg is made up of a chemotherapy drug attached to a molecule called an antibody. The antibody recognises the leukaemia cells and delivers the drug straight to those cells. The hope is that giving Mylotarg alongside other chemotherapy drugs will kill more cancer cells without increasing side effects.

The results of the two trials will show which of the different treatment combinations is most beneficial for each age group, and will help inform doctors of the best way to treat future patients with AML.

Together, the trials are aiming to recruit around 5,000 people with AML at hospitals in Wales and across the UK.

Enter Shine 2011 and help fund our work into leukaemia.

Pancreatic cancer

About 7,680 people are diagnosed with pancreatic cancer every year in the UK, that’s 21 every day.

The disease can be difficult to treat successfully, particularly as it’s often diagnosed at a late stage.

Our research has helped shape the way that pancreatic cancer patients are treated, giving people precious extra time. But we still urgently need to find new treatments and ways to detect the disease earlier if we are to save more lives. 

Cancer Research UK is the largest single funder of pancreatic research in the UK. 

Our scientists are working on many aspects of the disease, including finding genes that play a role in how it develops, as well as investing in crucial research to improve treatments.

Help us raise vital funds for our much-needed research into pancreatic cancer.

Beating pancreatic cancer

Professor John Neoptolemos is a world expert on pancreatic cancer. He oversees an extensive range of research into the disease, including a number of large clinical trials aimed at improving treatment.

He is currently leading a large clinical trial, ESPAC-4, to improve treatment for people with the disease. The trial aims to find out whether giving a patient a combination of two chemotherapy drugs after surgery is more effective than the current standard treatment and has acceptable side effects.

Professor Neoptolemos led a previous clinical trial that showed that, for people with advanced pancreatic cancer, giving the chemotherapy drugs gemcitabine and capecitabine together was more beneficial than gemcitabine alone.

Building on this success, the new trial will find out whether the same drug combination can also improve survival for patients with less advanced forms of the disease. It will also assess how any additional side effects impact the patients’ quality of life.

This important trial aims to recruit over 1,000 people with pancreatic cancer from around the world. If the results show that the new drug combination is beneficial, it could become the new "gold standard" treatment for people who have had surgery to remove their pancreatic cancer.

“Pancreatic cancer is the fifth most common cause of cancer death in the UK, so every small step forward is to be highly prized.” Professor John Neoptolemos

Enter Shine 2011 and help beat pancreatic cancer.

Cervical cancer

Cervical cancer affects around 2,830 women each year in the UK, and is the second most common cancer in women under 35.

Cervical cancer is one of the few cancers that can be prevented, because pre-cancerous cells can be detected at an early stage by screening and simply treated. The national cervical cancer screening programme saves thousands of lives every year, and the new cervical cancer vaccine has the potential to prevent around 7 out of 10 cases of the disease.

Sadly, despite these advances, around 960 UK women still lose their lives to cervical cancer every year. So we still need to do more to tackle the disease.

Cancer Research UK is funding research into the prevention and treatment of cervical cancer. A major focus of this work is to help shape and improve the effectiveness of cervical screening.

Help us carry out our vital research to save more lives from cervical cancer in the future.

Paula – cancer survivor

Paula Jones, from Crewe, was diagnosed with cervical cancer aged 23. She had booked an appointment with her GP after irregular bleeding between periods.

Following the diagnosis, Paula underwent a full hysterectomy and did not need any other treatment.

The 38-year-old, who works for Cancer Research UK as a regional events manager, said: “I was absolutely gobsmacked when I was told I had cancer. Undergoing a hysterectomy at such a young age was tough going.

“But I was fortunate that my cancer was diagnosed at a very early stage and I didn’t need further treatment.

“Having cancer has changed my life. My perspective is completely different now and I can appreciate what is important.”

Enter Shine 2011 and help beat cervical cancer.

Testicular cancer

Around 2,000 men are diagnosed with testicular cancer every year in the UK, and rates are rising. It is one of the few cancers that is more common in younger and middle-aged men than it is in older men.

Thanks to research, treatment for testicular cancer is very effective and nearly all men are now cured of the disease.

Our work on testicular cancer now focuses on refining and improving the treatment for this disease. We still need to develop more effective treatments for men with testicular cancer that is advanced or does not respond to hormone treatment.

We are also keen to increase public awareness of the signs of testicular cancer. It’s important that men know what to look out for and have anything unusual checked out by their doctor as soon as possible.

You can donate the funds you raise for Shine to help improve the effectiveness of treatment and increase awareness of testicular cancer.

Dave – cancer survivor

Dave Kelly, from Warrington, was diagnosed with testicular cancer in 2006 when he was aged 31.

He suffered a dull ache in his groin a few months before finding a lump on his left testicle. Dave underwent surgery to have his left testicle removed completely. A prosthetic testicle was fitted during the same operation.

Dave, who has always looked after his health and is a police officer with Greater Manchester Police, feared he would not see his baby daughter Phoebe grow-up.

He was advised to bank sperm at a special unit based at the Royal Liverpool Women’s Hospital to enable he and his wife to have children in the future.

Dave received one dose of chemotherapy treatment and three years later is fighting fit.

The 36-year-old said: “There’s no point in being shy or keeping the fact that I’ve had testicular cancer a secret. I am just glad to be alive and seeing my daughter grow-up.”

Enter Shine 2011 and help beat testicular cancer.