Edinburgh Cancer Research

Latest News

The following news articles were published in 2023.

Shining a Light on Skin Cancer

The Institute and Robertson Construction Central East joined forces for the week of Melanoma Monday to raise awareness of the risks of skin cancer: May 2023

Double testing better at identifying bowel cancer

The accuracy of detecting bowel cancer is increased to almost 100 per cent by carrying out a common test twice rather than once, a new study shows.

Life-saving cancer drug takes a major step closer to patient care

A new drug candidate for hard-to-treat cancers, discovered at the University of Edinburgh and licensed by biopharmaceutical company Nuvectis Pharma, Inc. has received US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) clearance to proceed to clinical trials.

Focal Adhesion Kinase promotes immune evasion in pancreatic cancer

Graphical summary of experimental setup used by M. Canel et al. for proteomic analysis of FAK function in human PDAC cells
A study led by our scientists indicates that a protein Focal Adhesion Kinase can promote immune evasion of pancreatic cancer through suppression of antigen processing and presentation.

Boost for bowel cancer research in Scotland as first surgical research chair appointed

Farhat Din
Farhat Din becomes Scotland’s first-ever Colorectal Cancer Surgical Research Chair in a bid to tackle the nation's second-biggest cancer killer.

Adhesion protein that regulates gene transcription via direct signalling across the nuclear envelope

Colocalisation of Mena with nesprin-2 (left) and model of the proposed role for Mena at the nuclear membrane (right)
Edinburgh-led study identifies a novel function for the cell adhesion protein Mena at the nuclear membrane, where it regulates actin-nuclear lamina associations, nuclear architecture, chromatin repositioning and gene expression.

Kindlin-1 modulates the immune environment in breast cancer

Loss of Kindlin-1 leads to altered cytokine secretion [for details see Webb ER et al. Elife. 2023;12:e85739].
Our scientists identify a novel function for Kindlin-1 in regulation of anti-tumour immunity.

Radiotherapy optional for older breast cancer patients

Photo of an advanced linear accelerator used for cancer radiotherapy in a modern hospital suite
Radiotherapy does not improve survival rates in older patients with early breast cancer, new research suggests.

Gerard Brien joins the Institute of Genetics and Cancer as a new principal investigator

Dr Gerard Brien, a childhood cancer researcher and an international leader in the field of chromatin biology, joins the Institute of Genetics and Cancer.

£4m for Scotland Will Help Find New Cancer Treatments

The development of new cancer treatments in Scotland is to receive major funding of up to £4m providing future hope for people diagnosed with the disease: January 2023

Transcriptomic profiling may identify patients with breast cancer who can safely omit radiation therapy after breast-conserving surgery

Patients with invasive breast cancer that had low scores on an investigational gene molecular signature had similar rates of local recurrence whether or not they received adjuvant radiation therapy after breast-conserving surgery: December 2022

Identification of a signalling axis associated with immune suppression and poor prognosis in pancreatic cancer

Graphical summary of a proposed mechanism through which FAK-IL6 signalling amplifies PD-L2 expression in PDAC
Using animal modelling and human transcriptomic datasets, Edinburgh researchers demonstrated that FAK-IL6 signalling amplifies pathways associated with immune suppression and poor patient prognosis in pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma.

ecDNA copy number is key to high-level oncogene expression, new research shows

A recent study has demonstrated that, contrary to recent reports, the transcriptional output of oncogenes carried on extrachromosomal DNA in glioblastoma stem cells is driven by the copy number of the ecDNA, rather than their spatial localization into transcriptional hubs: December 2022

Longest follow-up of patients with early breast cancer shows radiotherapy does not improve survival after 30 years

Radiotherapy after breast conserving surgery in conjunction with chemotherapy or tamoxifen to treat early breast cancer reduces the risk of the disease returning in the same breast in the next ten years but makes little difference to that risk thereafter. Nor does it improve overall survival after 30 years.