University to lead new research into cancer
REVOLUTIONARY RESEARCH into a rare bone cancer affecting young adults is to be carried out by researchers in Yorkshire through the legacy of a promising teenage horse rider.
Hannah Francis died at the age of 18 following her diagnosis in 2015 from an aggressive cancer called osteosarcoma, which usually develops in growing bones.
Before her death two years ago, she had set up the Hannah’s Wilberry Wonder Pony charity, which has now granted £230,000 towards the pioneering research that will be carried out at the University of Sheffield.
The disease, which affects about 160 children and young adults in the UK each year, attracts relatively little funding because of its rarity.
The lack of funding means that there has been equally limited research conducted and treatment for the disease has not improved during the past 30 years.
“Osteosarcoma is a particularly nasty disease which has very poor survival rates,” said Prof Allie Gartland, of the University of Sheffield’s Department of Oncology and Metabolism, who will lead the new research project.
“It is shocking to think that treatment for this particularly aggressive form of bone cancer hasn’t changed in the past 30 years.
“There is clearly a need to understand the mechanisms by which chemo-resistance develops so we can find more effective treatments.”
The grant will enable Prof Gartland and her team to identify new drugs which could help young people.
Prof Gartland added: “Our aim is to identify drugs that are currently used to treat other diseases, which may also be a more effective way to treat osteosarcoma – whether on their own or in combination with the current chemotherapy strategy.”