Dr Louis Chesler is leading a Sparks-funded research project to develop safer, more effective treatments for childhood cancer neuroblastoma.

He a Senior Clinical Lecturer and Team Leader at The Institute of Cancer Research and Royal Marsden Hospital in Surrey. Dr Chesler explains the potential impact of his work…

“We work with a set of paediatric cancers that are very difficult to cure. These are solid tumours in children, like brain tumours, peripheral nerve tumours called neuroblastomas and muscle tumours.

Current treatments target rapidly dividing cells in the body, which is a feature of cancer cells. However the treatments can also affect other rapidly dividing healthy cells – found in places such as the mouth, gut and stomach. This can result in some particularly nasty side effects such as diarrhoea, skin problems and painful mouth sores.

New drugs

“We want to develop therapeutic drugs that actually target problem cells – and don’t just attack all cells that divide quickly. They will attack a single protein that has been linked to cancer, almost like laser-guided missiles.

“If you cure a lethal cancer in a five-year-old child, you have the potential to give them a long, healthy life, free of side effects.”

Our research has the potential to identify drugs to create safer, more effective cancer treatments for children. While the basic science questions are fascinating, for me as a clinician what drives me is translating the  science into clinical trials and patient benefit.

The impact of curing paediatric cancer in terms of years of lives saved is infinitely greater in a child. If you want to make a contribution to society, there is an equal imperative to fund paediatric cancer research as there is for adults. If you cure a lethal cancer in a five-year-old child, you have the potential to give them a long, healthy life, free of side effects.”

Need for funding

“Paediatric research and drug development is extremely difficult, as targeted drugs are very expensive to develop. When patient numbers are very small, asthey are in paediatric cancer, the financial incentives to invest in drug development don’t exist. It’s just not a commercial enterprise.

This kind of drug development has to be done at centres like ours where we have an academic hospital, academic research and our own ability to invent, synthesise and develop new drugs. Even then, there are huge challenges. Funding from charities like Sparks is crucial to our work.”