Junior doctor who made life-changing prostate discovery ... in her spare time
ALL dressed up in her nurse’s outfit at three years old, it was clear from a very early age that Anna Rose was planning a career in medicine.
The little girl would wear the uniform as she trotted behind her consultant father on his ward rounds.
But she’s done lots more than just follow in his footsteps. Anna, now a 31year-old doctor, has made a critical breakthrough that could help in the early identification of children at high risk of developing prostate and breast cancer later in life.
Her painstaking research on socalled junk DNA – carried out in her spare time while she battled with the demanding workload of a junior doctor – could not only save hundreds of thousands of lives but also many millions of pounds spent on long-term treatments.
In future, the likelihood of a person developing cancer could be identified by a simple blood test, mouth swab or even the examination of a hair follicle at a cost of as little as £2 a patient.
‘It is vital to identify an increased risk of developing any cancer at the earliest possible age stage,’ said Dr Rose.
‘In the UK, mammogram screening begins at the age of 50 – but for some women they might have developed a stage four [advanced] cancer by that age. My work will allow us to identify a woman who has a greatly increased risk of suffering from breast cancer – before it has ever developed.
‘Technically, it could be from the day a young baby is born – but it is likely that the test would be aimed at teenagers or young adults who have decided they would like screening.
‘Late-stage cancer costs a fortune to treat, but my findings will allow a cheap and simple test to be carried out which will allow effective screening and, therefore, early and hopefully lifesaving interventions.’
Dr Rose’s findings have now been published in the Annals of Oncology journal and a string of pharmaceutical and biotech companies are monitoring her work in the hope of being able to develop early screening techniques.
There are also suggestions she may be able to broaden her work with junk DNA to look at other forms of cancer or diseases such as diabetes and Alzheimer’s. The work was based on a PhD she undertook almost eight years ago while studying at University College London.
DNA that contains coding, or instructions, to create proteins in a cell only accounts for around 4-5 per cent of human DNA. The rest is regarded as non-coding – or junk DNA.
Dr Rose found that by looking for numbered sequences within junk DNA it was possible to predict a person’s likelihood of developing breast or prostate cancer.
She examined sequences involving a piece of junk DNA known as MSR1 and it is through a simple test for ‘MSR1 repeats’ that she could identify a raised risk of developing breast cancer. Some people had nine ‘repeats’ in their ‘junk DNA’ while others had 11.
Research – in collaboration with the University of Dundee – found women with the nine-copy version were up to five times more likely to develop breast cancer before the age of 50.
Further work with the University of Queensland in Australia found that through a similar process it was possible to detect the likelihood of prostate cancer. Dr Rose and her researchers found that having a ninecopy MSR1 would make a man up to 1.65 times more likely to develop prostate cancer.
DNA largely remains the same from the day you are born to the day you die – and this allows a check on a patient much earlier than previously considered. If a potential patient is found to be at increased risk, then treatment could begin at the earliest opportunity.
Dr Rose – whose father Professor Geoffrey Rose is a consultant ophthalmic surgeon at London’s Moorfields Eye Hospital – said: ‘When I began looking at junk DNA it was assumed that properties within it had little value.
‘My research has instead found that junk DNA not only controlled genes next door to certain numbered sequences but could have long lasting effects for years to come in terms of early prediction of disease risk.’
Dr Rose is currently working at the John Radcliffe Hospital in Oxford where she is an Academic Clinical Fellow in paediatrics and she will be specialising in children’s cancer.
She said: ‘I have always wanted to be a doctor – and as with most doctors this was because of a desire to help people, and a sense of vocation. But as I went through my studies I became fascinated by the human genome and how DNA affected disease processes.’