Interview with cancer scientist Professor Henning Walczak

1 October 2014

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Professor Henning Walczak is the co-director at UCL’s Cancer Research UK Centre. A world-class cancer scientist, he talks about how the Stand Up To Cancer campaign can make a difference to saving millions of lives in the future…

 

How many people are diagnosed with cancer every day?

In the UK alone, more than 900 people are told they have cancer every day.

 

How will the money raised from Stand Up To Cancer help researchers like you?

100 per cent of the money raised by Stand Up To Cancer will be spent on bringing ideas generated in the lab to patients sooner. When lab research carried out by our scientists leads to the discovery of a promising new treatment we can now take it forward into clinical trials with patients. The money raised from the 2012 Stand Up To Cancer campaign funded 12 trials including a trial involving bowel cancer. In a clinical trial the patients are split up into different groups, usually two of which one is treated with the best treatment currently available and the other one either with a new drug added to that or with a totally new treatment. .

 

What are you driven by?

We, as scientists, are driven by a combination of what we see in the lab and what we think can translate into patient benefit. This translation often takes too long and in many cases the reason for this is lack of money. We simply want to bring our lab findings to the clinic and give every cancer patient their best shot at fighting the disease.

 

How much does a trial cost? How much do you need to raise?

That is a difficult question to answer. Some trials can be thousands, some millions, depending on how sophisticated the trial is. But what the trials sponsored by Stand Up To Cancer do is translate a new idea into clinical success. They are absolutely vital.

 

Can you give an example of the kind of research you are currently carrying out?

What we do know is that chemo and radiotherapy works for many patients, at least initially. But too often the cancer comes back and is then resistant to current treatment options. Scientists are tackling cancer from every angle, trying to understand why cancer cells divide out of control, why they become resistant and how we can break that resistance. Thanks to 25 years of research carried out by many labs around the world, including mine, we are now in a position to develop new treatments which can specifically kill cancer cells whilst keeping harm to normal cells to a minimum, a key goal in cancer research. For me the only good cancer cell is a dead cancer cell.

We have discovered a protein made by our own immune cells that can kill cancer cells. We are now taking this protein, and combine it with chemotherapy, radiotherapy or other, so called targeted cancer drugs. This adds a new player into the balance. We can now attack cancer from different sides and this is a lot better scenario than what we had before.

 

Why is cancer such a difficult disease?

Cancer is a complex disease. There are many different types of cancer and we will need to have different solutions for different cancers. We want to cure cancer by a better understanding and by preventing it. Early detection and diagnosis is a big issue. We can prevent a lot of cancer deaths if we detect it early. There is a lot we can and will do in this area as well.

 

You must be pleased to hear that thanks to research, two in four people now survive?

That is one way to look at it. Most people would probably agree the downside is 50 per cent still die and we really want to change that. Everybody knows someone we have been close to that it has happened to. We want this to change. The goal within the next 20 years is that three out of four people will survive. When I see the new opportunities that are appearing, I am confident we can achieve that.

 

Are you hopeful you can cure cancer eventually?

We have already seen it with new targeted therapies for certain kinds of leukaemia. I am hopeful we can eventually make this happen for a number of cancers. For certain cancers we may instead be able to better control rather than cure the disease. This will require a lot of hard work and resources. What we need is a concerted effort by researchers, government and, most importantly, everyone who wants to contribute to beating this dreadful disease. This is where Stand Up To Cancer comes in. Everyone out there can make a difference and bring the day forward when we will ultimately beat this disease.

 

Stand Up to Cancer is on Channel 4 on Friday 17th October.