The University of Nottingham

The University has opened the world’s first centre of excellence specialising in pioneering research into the early detection of cancer.

The Centre of Excellence for Autoimmunity in Cancer (CEAC), based at the School of Graduate Entry Medicine and Health in Derby, will lead research into the early detection and management of cancer and push forward the introduction of a blood test which can pick up the first signs of cancer as much as five years before a patient presents with any symptoms.

Director of CEAC John Robertson, a world-renowned breast cancer specialist and Professor of Surgery in the Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, said: “Early detection is the holy grail in cancer treatment. If we can treat cancer at the earliest possible moment we know we can help save millions of lives.”

The Cancer: Early Detection project, developed by CEAC, will bring together a multi-disciplinary team of experts to lead to a better understanding of the molecular pathways that cancers in humans exploit as they develop and spread. This will help cancer specialists gain a greater insight into the associated immune response.

Professor Robertson said: “Mapping these changes to the immune system is clinically important. However, the ability to measure these cancer specific autoantibodies in a reproducible and reliable manner has eluded the scientific community until now. We can do this for lung cancer and CEAC is a significant step towards early diagnosis for all forms of solid cancers — such as breast, colon and prostate.

Cancer: Early Detection is a flagship project within Impact: The Nottingham Campaign. Find out more at: http://tiny.cc/UoNImpact-earlydetection.