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 Professor Cooper in one of the centre’s laboratories. [Photo: Institute for Cancer Research] Everyman's Professor
In 2004 the Grand Charity approved a one million pound grant to further research into both
prostate and testicular cancer by establishing The Grand Charity of Freemasons Chair of
Molecular Biology at the Institute of Cancer Research (ICR). Five years on, and with the ICR
currently in its centenary year, Matthew Scanlan went to meet the holder of the Chair, Professor
Colin Cooper, to find out about his work.
Just over ten years ago, when we looked at funding for prostate cancer research, we found there was actually less than 5p spent per man in the UK on researching the disease.Consequently in 1997, in conjunction with the ICR, he launched The Everyman Campaign in order to raise funds for much needed research. The campaign went well and within a relatively short period of time it raised sufficient funds to construct a building specially dedicated to research in this field. The new building –– the Male Urological Cancer Research Centre or Everyman Centre –– was opened in November 2001 and is the first and only building solely dedicated to researching male cancers in Europe. In fact, The Everyman Centre, which forms part of the ICR complex at Sutton in Surrey, together with the Royal Marsden NHS Foundation Trust, constitutes one of the largest comprehensive cancer centres in the world. And today, Professor Cooper heads a section of 40 researchers who work on everything from trying to understand the disease in greater detail, to the development of new drugs and less invasive treatments. Unknown causes Prostate cancer is currently the most common form of male cancer in the UK and approximately 30,000 cases are diagnosed annually. However, its causes remain a mystery. It is also unknown why prostate cancer is more prevalent among African men rather than their European counterparts, while men living in Asia are five times less likely to develop the disease than those living in England. Professor Cooper believes that the answer to this enigma is most probably diet related, although exactly why is also unclear. Tiger verses Pussycat As Professor Cooper explained, ‘Prostate cancer is unlike any other cancer, in as much as most of it does not need treating’. For instance, if you PSA (Prostate Specific Antigen) screened a group of men in their eighties, there will be evidence of prostate cancer in about 80 to 90% of them, but only about 12% of men who develop the disease will ever die of it. Consequently, a large part of his work focuses on how to help scientists and medical professionals better identify the more threatening forms of the disease as quickly as possible. That is really what my research is about. It’s about trying to find a test which will distinguish aggressive from non-aggressive forms of prostate cancer at an early stage.In 2004, Professor Cooper and his team made a major advance in understanding the disease, when they discovered a gene known as E2F3 which is particularly overactive in prostate cancer tumours and is thought to be linked to the level of tumour aggressiveness. This insight helped Professor Cooper and his team develop a so-called ‘tiger versus pussycat’ test, which is designed to prevent thousands of prostate cancer patients who have a milder form of the disease (the pussycat form), being spared unnecessary and invasive treatment, whilst those with more aggressive tumours (the tiger form) can be given the lifesaving treatment they need. And this new approach has had its rewards. In February 2008 the National Institute for Clinical Excellence (N.I.C.E.) actually changed the UK government’s official guidelines on treating early prostate cancer. The official policy now being –– no treatment unless absolutely necessary. Another major goal of the centre’s programme is to support the work of groups throughout the country who also wish to research prostate cancer, and herein lies another success story. For Professor Cooper and his team have also developed a patented technique now used all over the world, for slicing prostate cancer for research purposes so that many samples can be gleaned from each cancerous prostate. And this has enabled scientists working at the Sutton centre to supply other research centres, both within the UK and beyond, with many invaluable samples. Testicular Cancer A far less common form of cancer being researched by The Everyman Centre is testicular cancer. But despite being a more rare condition, it is a form that tragically affects 2,000 young men in the UK, typically those between the age of 15-40, and instance rates of the disease have sadly doubled in the last thirty years. A key area of research into this cancer concerns family links, one of the strongest risk factors for testicular cancer is having a father, son or brother with the disease. However, the good news with this form of cancer is that if it is caught early, the cure rate is an impressive 99%, which makes awareness and early detection a vital part of combating the disease. The Future Despite the obvious difficulties of dealing with a highly adaptive and complex condition, Professor Cooper believes that he and his team have come along way in the last ten years, and he remains upbeat and optimistic about the future. ‘I’ve got a pretty good idea now of what we need to do’, he told me, ‘so now it’s just a matter of doing it’. If anyone wishes to make a donation to male cancer research at the ICR, please write to the Senior Trusts Manager, Thomas Bland, at The Institute of Cancer Research, 123 Old Brompton Road, London, SW7 3RP. Further details about the organisation can be found on the ICR’s website: www.icr.ac.uk Also visit: www.everyman-campaign.org
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