A research team at the University of Glasgow is set to develop an advanced AI tool to enhance treatment for rectal cancer.
Professor Campbell Roxburgh, a cancer researcher and surgeon who will lead the team, has been awarded £505,414 from Stand Up To Cancer to carry out the work.
The goal is to create a tool using deep learning technology that could predict more accurately how a patient will respond to treatment by picking up tiny changes and differences in tissue samples impossible to detect by the human eye. This state-of-the-art technology may spare some people from having major life-changing surgery, giving them a better quality of life in the future.
Image by Steve Welsh. From left to right: L to R Professor Campbell Roxburgh, Jean Quinn, Kathryn Pennel, Lewis Irvine, Phimmada Hatthakarnkul, Guang-Yu Lian, Gerard Lynch
Stand Up To Cancer, a joint fundraising campaign from Cancer Research UK and Channel 4, takes developments from the lab and accelerates them into new tests and treatments that could help save lives.
Professor Roxburgh said: “A cancer diagnosis can be an incredibly difficult and worrying time for patients.
“There should be no one size fits all scenario in rectal cancer. It’s vital we move towards a more individualised approach. Of course, it’s important we use the most effective treatments to get patients clear of cancer. But if you cure patients successfully they’ll have the rest of their lives to live with the after effects of their treatment.
“Younger people are getting rectal cancer. That’s a phenomenon which exists across Europe and America. There’s a lot of work underway to understand why this is happening. But what we do know is that it’s better for well-being if at all possible to direct patients down less aggressive or less invasive treatments and avoid permanent side effects. Our goal is to develop a non-invasive tool using biological data combined with imaging data and deep learning technology. This could lead to a new way to assess rectal tumours to personalise and improve treatment.”
Professor Roxburgh, who is a surgeon at the Glasgow Royal Infirmary, is working on the Stand Up To Cancer funded research project with Professor Emiliano Spezi at Cardiff University School of Engineering. The team also include Dr Ke Yean from the University’s School of Computing Science, Professor Joanne Edwards and Dr Gerard Lynch from the School of Cancer Sciences and PhD students Lily Hillson and Thomas Stevens.
Around 4,000 people are diagnosed with bowel cancer each year in Scotland. Rectal cancer is a type of bowel cancer that starts in the back passage. Bowel cancer can also start in the large bowel. Right now, standard treatment for many people with rectal cancer includes radiotherapy and major surgery to remove the rectum. This can lead to unpleasant side effects like severe diarrhoea or the need to wear a colostomy bag- a major life change.
Currently, the features of tissue samples taken from cancer patients are examined under a microscope by pathologists. Their observations on the tumour’s type and stage of growth help determine each patient’s course of treatment. But it’s a challenge to know how well each individual will respond to treatment.
Professor Roxburgh’s group want to use AI’s ability to pick up tiny changes and differences in tissue, almost impossible to spot with the human eye. This technology could predict more accurately a patient’s outcome. It would ensure patients receive the best possible treatment for them and could be spared from life-changing treatment.
When Professor Roxburgh pulls on a Stand Up To Cancer t-shirt he thinks of his own mum Dr Christine Roxburgh, a former GP at the Drumhar Health Centre in Perth who was just 62 when she died from oesophageal cancer in June 2012.
Professor Roxburgh said: “I Stand Up To Cancer for my mum who was taken too young.
“I was just at the end of my PhD and training as a surgeon when my mum died. She saw me graduate as a doctor. Mum was around when my first child was born but I now have three children. Mum had just retired. She had more life to live and that is the sadness of cancer. There are so many more memories that I would like to have shared with mum.”
Since its launch in the UK in 2012, Stand Up To Cancer has raised more than £113 million, funding 73 clinical trials and research projects involving more than 13,000 cancer patients.
Cancer Research UK spokeswoman for Scotland, Lisa Adams, said: “Thanks to our supporters, our scientists are working tirelessly to help more people survive.
“From developing pioneering technology using lasers and robots to improve cancer surgery to using AI to optimise radiotherapy treatment for rectal cancer and creating lollypops that could detect mouth cancer, we’re at the cutting edge of research.
“But we must go further and faster. Nearly one in two of us will get cancer in our lifetime. All of us can help beat it. That’s why we’re asking everyone to Stand Up To Cancer with us. Whether it’s choosing to donate, fundraise, or tackle the ups and downs of our squats challenge, if thousands of us make a stand we’ll speed up the progress of vital research – meaning more people live longer, better lives, free from the fear of cancer.”