Target weaknesses in cancer

We will exploit our understanding of cancer’s complexity, ecosystems and evolution to create innovative new ways to target the disease – drawing on ideas from across the ICR’s discovery science.

As we understand more about cancer, we are able to identify new weaknesses which can be targeted with innovative drugs, technologies and combination treatments.

We aim to discover novel treatments which exploit our understanding of the way cancers evolve within an ecosystem, the interactions between cancer cells and the immune system, and the reliance of a tumour on the tissue and growth signals that surround it. To do this, our strategy seeks to draw more effectively from ideas generated by discovery research across the ICR, and from clinical observations.

Our researchers will create new cancer immunotherapies and seek to extend the use of current ones. We will also use our understanding of evolutionary science to create new drug combinations and dosing strategies that control cancer in the long term.

We know that most successful treatments target cancer before it has spread to other parts of the body. We will develop new imaging technologies to pinpoint cancer within the body and find ways to target tumours precision radiotherapy and surgery.

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