Research portfolio update

The latest news on all the research projects funded by the JHMRF.

Immunology

A paper by Dr Saly Al-Taie and others reporting the JHMRF-funded study conducted by the immunology research team at the Velindre Cancer Centre in Cardiff was published in the April 2012 edition of the journal Lung Cancer. This study investigated the activation and relevance of T-cells in malignant pleural mesothelioma and established the groundwork for a randomised trial of immunotherapy in patients.

Cell biology

The study of ER Stress signalling carried out by Dr Stefan Marciniak and his team at the Cambridge Institute of Medical Research was completed in February 2012.  An academic paper will report the findings later this year.  In addition to the main findings, this study also led to the refinement of TMA (Tissue Microarray techniques) and identified the multiple, additional mutations in existing mesothelioma cell lines that indicated new cell lines were required for use in experimental studies.

Brother Peter Fellowship

A major achievement in 2012 was the award of the first JHMRF Clinical Fellowship, the Brother Peter Fellowship, to Dr Nicolas MacLeod. Dr Macleod is based in Edinburgh and will conduct a study in palliative and supportive care to assess the value of radiotherapy in the control of pain and other symptoms experienced by patients with mesothelioma.