Innovation honour for cancer cell scientists
19 June 2007
Scientists based in the MRC Cancer Cell Unit in Cambridge have won two prestigious Medical Futures Innovation Awards for their work on improving identification of cancer cells in body fluids and tissue samples.
Nick Coleman (centre) receives a Medical Futures Innovation Award. From left newsreader Michael Buerk, Professor Ron Laskey, Dr Nick Coleman, Nicolaus Henke of McKinsey & Company (award sponsor) and comedian Rory Bremner.
The Medical Futures Innovation Awards are a national recognition of clinical and commercial excellence. They aim to help encourage, support and reward new ideas and advancements in healthcare that may improve people's lives.
Dr Nick Coleman and his colleagues, including unit director Professor Ron Laskey, based the new screening method on the presence of proteins called MCMs that are abundant in cancer cells but rarely detectable in healthy cells. This makes the MCM proteins a useful indicator, known as a biomarker, for the presence of cancer.
The team won two awards, the Medical Futures Translational Cancer Innovation Award and the Overall Winner of the Medical Futures Cancer Innovation Awards. Speaking after the award ceremony Dr Coleman said:
“The MCM test is very exciting and has the potential to make a major impact on patient care. We are delighted to have received this critical endorsement and recognition from the eminent judges on the Medical Futures panel. We now hope to accelerate the development of the technology to advance patient benefit, particularly in lung and bowel cancer screening.”
MCMs stands for minichromosome maintenance proteins, which are used by body cells to copy DNA when they split to create new cells. One of the key features of cancer is loss of control of cell division, as a result cells divide excessively and the tumour grows. Because of this, MCMs are present at the surface of cancers but not normal tissue. If MCMs are found in a screening specimen, like a cervical smear or faecal sample, further investigation of the patient is needed.
Dr Coleman’s research is also supported by Cancer Research UK. Kate Law, director of clinical trials for the charity congratulated Dr Coleman and his colleagues:
"This is a very exciting area of research. Early diagnosis is the single most important factor for improving survival prospects for many types of cancer.’’
The panel of judges mixed their expertise in science and business to select the winners. Judges included heart and lung transplant pioneer Sir Magdi Yacoub; Oxford professor of pharmacology, Lady Susan Greenfield; Department of Health national cancer director Professor Mike Richards; and Sir Victor Blank, chairman of Lloyds TSB.
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