Imperial College Visit, 12 March

Hi Everyone

This is a follow up to my post some little while ago (in General Discussion), on our then forthcoming visit to Imperial College, London, for a progress report on the research AMMF has been supporting.

It was a packed day, but so good to be with people who have such an interest in finding answers to the basic questions – what causes cc, why is it increasing, and what can we do about it. The research results are quite complex (to a layman like me …) so we are presently having the technical reports written up in ‘plain’ language. If anyone would like copies of these when they’re done, just let me know.

The presentations were:

Epidemiology, Diagnosis and Proteomic Studies in Cholangiocarcinoma
– Shahid A Khan
This study is concerned with the need for accurate biomarkers to distinguish cc from benign biliary disease, as well as from other liver tumours, and was a preliminary study of proteomic profiling in bile. The results of this were encouraging and have now formed the basis to take these studies to the next level and investigate in larger numbers of patients, with the strong hope that this will eventually lead to the validation of a biomarker.

Genetic Studies in Cholangiocarcinoma
– Chris Wadsworth
This is quite complex, so I will wait for the plain language version before I say too much … but it does look as though there could be a genetic implication. The next step here for this team is to continue with the current work and data analysis, and to compare these finding with that of a Thai group (Thailand has one of the highest incidences of cc apparently).

MR Microcoil Studies in Cholangiocarcinoma
– Chris Wadsworth
This was extremely interesting. The team have worked on a way to get higher resolution imaging to help with diagnosis and staging. The current MRI scans don’t give clear enough images of the bile ducts, and ERCP imaging is 2D and doesn’t provide extra-ductal information.

A prototype microcoil biliary catheter (a mini MRI scanner which can be used internally) has been produced which can produce sub-millimetre resolution imaging – really high quality imaging of the bile ducts and interpretable anatomical detail. Obviously there is a lot of work to be done to perfect this, but initial results are looking very promising.

and finally –

Metabonomic Profiling in Liver Cancer
– Mohamed Shariff
This research is dealing with liver cancer rather than specifically cc, and although it was really interesting and innovative, I won’t go in to details here (if anyone wants to know, just ask!)

An interesting point that came up in the first presentation is that, here in the UK, the incidence of cc is more prevalent in rural areas than in towns and cities. No similar studies have been carried out in Europe (I don’t know about the USA), but obviously this finding throws up any number of questions.

Obviously everything concerned with research is painstaking and slow, but at last (certainly with regards to the UK) true research into cc is underway – not just looking at side effects of various chemos etc, which is really important of course, but we need to know why this is happening so maybe we can prevent it, get it diagnosed earlier so we have a chance to deal with it, and find effective treatment.

I’m not looking for much, I know!!

With love and positive thoughts for everyone.

Helen x

http://www.ammf.org.uk