Supervisor - Dr Sally Wheelwright
Supervisor - Prof Erika Mancini
Supervisor - Dr Ethan Morgan
PhD student -
Funder: Sussex Cancer Fund
Funder: William Priddy Cancer Research Studentship
Cancer related fatigue (CRF) is common, affecting 40-71% of people with cancer, but it is not well understood or treated. In a survey of over 3,500 patients, carers, and health and social care professionals, CRF was identified as a key research priority. CRF can be caused by the cancer itself, related symptoms like anaemia and pain, cancer treatments and other interventions (like painkillers), comorbidities, psychological/emotional factors and cancer-related work (e.g. travelling for treatment). It sometimes persists many years after treatment. There are no treatments for CRF but some supportive interventions, like exercise and cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT), have been shown to reduce its impact. Identifying CRF earlier would help target these interventions to those who need them most.
CRF is best measured by patient reported outcomes (PROs) and it may be that patient reported outcome measures (PROMs) can be used to predict who will experience CRF. PROMs could also help identify CRF biomarkers (biological substances found in the body). Due to its complex nature, there are currently no reliable biomarkers associated with CRF, although inflammation is thought to be a major driver. Blood cytokines and chemokines are proteins involved in the immune response and can contribute to inflammation, so looking for proteins associated with CRF PROMs is a good starting point for finding a biomarker. This could eventually lead to new treatments for CRF.
The main objectives of the project will be:
- To identify predictors of CRF through analysis of an existing data set containing PROMs and clinical data
- To identify candidate biomarkers of CRF through proteomic analysis (protein analysis)
- To develop a model which predicts clinically significant CRF during and after treatment
Current Stage:
In setup