Dennis McCance is striving to cure people suffering from certain types of cancer. But he also wonders – afterwards, what sort of life will they have?
Professor McCance, Director of Cancer Research and Cell Biology at the Queen’s School of Medicine, Dentistry and Biomedical Sciences, is engaged in major research, with £800,000 in funding by the Medical Research Council, into head and neck cancer.
He explains, ‘Traditionally, this type of cancer occurs in people over 60 who’ve abused alcohol and have been lifelong smokers. But over the last ten years there’s been a rise in a type of cancer called oropharyngeal cancer, which is at the back of the tongue and the area around the tonsils, and people in a younger age group are being affected.
‘The human papillomavirus (HPV) is thought to cause a percentage of these cancers, although not all, but we have found that those cancers which are HPV positive tend to respond to treatment much better than those which are HPV negative. Our research is aimed at determining why this is.’
He says, ‘The treatment for both types is usually radiation plus chemotherapy. However with this treatment normal tissue can be destroyed as well as the tumour. A patient can be left with no saliva, difficulty in swallowing and perhaps no speech. So their quality of life can be really diminished, even though they might be cured.
‘But if we can show why HPV positive cancers are more responsive, we may be able to use this information to treat HPV negative patients more moderately and that will improve their long-term outcome.’
Dennis studied zoology and microbiology at Queen’s, followed by a PhD at Birmingham in mycology, the study of fungi. He joined the staff of Guy’s Hospital in London where he spent 15 years before being recruited"We want to improve the long-term outcome." to the University of Rochester in up-state New York, where he stayed for seventeen years until he took up his current post in 2006.
‘At Rochester it was much more difficult to do clinical research than it is here. It’s something to do with the personnel we have. At Queen’s we’re much more clinically orientated.
‘We have a big radiation sciences group, involved in all facets of radiation, working with the Physics Department. They’re interested in new ways of treating people, new methodology, using proton beams rather than x-rays. They’re interested in the biological consequences of radiation, studying ways to protect healthy tissue. If it is protected, then the dose can be increased. We have people from the Schools of Pharmacy, Chemistry and Chemical Engineering and Physics and Mathematics involved. We’re multi-disciplinary.
‘We are the only place in the UK where this kind of work is being done. We have the infrastructure in place with radiation research, young clinicians and surgeons coming into labs to carry out research and state of the art facilities in the Clinical Cancer Centre in the City Hospital.’
The work being carried out in the Centre is of global importance and has attracted talented specialists to Belfast. ‘There are 60 PhDs in the Centre as we speak. They come from India, China, Poland, Belgium, Italy and from all over the UK.’
The Centre is also in partnership with the Belfast Health Trust. ‘The relationship has been greatly helped by the management of the Trust who are very research-orientated and appreciate the need for it within Trusts. In fact, it’s a Government directive that Trusts have to show that they’re improving the quality of life of their patients through research.
‘And that is our aim. The potential impact of this work for patients is immense.’
Click here to download a PDF version of this article.
