EVERY two minutes, someone in the UK is diagnosed with cancer. Virtually all of us are somehow affected over the course of our lives by this terrible disease, but there is hope.

Thanks to the tireless work of scientists around the world, UK cancer survival rates have doubled in the last 40 years. But there’s still work to be done, and Oxfordshire’s science infrastructure provides critical support to research into the causes, diagnosis and treatment of cancer.

One of the difficulties with addressing cancer is that there is so much variation, and each of the 100 or so variants has its own complex microbiological causes. The behaviour and progress of cancer also differs from person to person, meaning that there isn’t a clear ‘one size fits all’ answer.

That’s why understanding the key processes inherent in cancer emergence and spread is so important. And to get the full picture, we need to scrutinise these processes at the molecular and atomic level.

Science facilities in Oxfordshire are some of the most advanced in the world for this type of in-depth research, and so a number of pioneering cancer studies are taking place in the county.

One key area of Oxford-supported cancer research is exploring a potential link between stem cells and cancer development and therapy.

Stem cells are special because they can develop into many different types of cell, like blood cells, skin cells and so on. They are essential to many biological processes including human development and repair and regeneration, but when they become deregulated, stem cells have been linked with the development of cancer.

Scientists in Oxfordshire are scrutinising the processes involved in stem cell behaviour to identify exactly where problems arise. Learning more about this process could ultimately allow us to control it, potentially preventing stem cell deregulation and consequent cancers.

Many different processes are involved with the development of cancer and no single approach is going to provide a solution. Sometimes it’s the body’s own naturally-occurring chemicals that can become deregulated, leading to cancer.

Scientists are scrutinising a key chemical involved in biological processes such as DNA synthesis, cell growth and cell death. When it goes wrong, this chemical can cause diseases including types of liver and colon cancer.

Thanks to cutting-edge technology, scientists have been able to view the process behind production of the chemical as it takes place, like a molecular movie. A lot more research is needed, but it’s feasible that studies in this area could ultimately help us to better regulate the process and prevent tumour growth.

New therapies are a core goal of cancer research, but improved diagnosis is equally important. With access to advanced techniques, scientists are able to examine the metal composition in our brains, and this is important because links have been observed between trace metals and the development of cancer.

Scientists have recently been able to use trace metals to assess the location and malignancy of brain tumours. If the technique is successfully developed, it may eventually become possible for clinicians to use trace metals as guide to diagnose brain tumour priors to damage being done. This research is still at a very early stage, but the potential for improved diagnosis is clearly apparent.

According to Cancer Research UK, approximately 1 in 2 people born after 1960 will develop cancer during their lifetime. The disease remains a significant killer of people around the world, but progress is being made. It’s a difficult and complicated process, but each small finding is another piece of the puzzle. We have a long way to go but with every day that passes research brings us closer towards a cure.