APPG for Radiotherapy – July 2023
On 14th June 2023, the APPG for Radiotherapy (APPG-RT) heard from representatives of the global
radiotherapy industry to better understand how advances in Radiotherapy are being implemented in
other countries, and how similar approaches could fundamentally improve outcomes for cancer
patients in the UK.
Read the Report – International Advances in Radiotherapy
WHO – 14th July 2023
Assessments of the health impacts of the non-sugar sweetener aspartame are released today by the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) and the World Health Organization (WHO) and the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) Joint Expert Committee on Food Additives (JECFA). Citing “limited evidence” for carcinogenicity in humans, IARC classified aspartame as possibly carcinogenic to humans (IARC Group 2B) and JECFA reaffirmed the acceptable daily intake of 40 mg/kg body weight.
Aspartame is an artificial (chemical) sweetener widely used in various food and beverage products since the 1980s, including diet drinks, chewing gum, gelatin, ice cream, dairy products such as yogurt, breakfast cereal, toothpaste and medications such as cough drops and chewable vitamins.
Further information – Aspartame hazard and risk assessment results released
Background – Carcinogenicity of aspartame, methyleugenol, and isoeugenol – Lancet Oncology
HSIB – 13th July 2023
Palliative and end of life care is ‘variable and inequitable’ across the NHS in England, says our latest report.
The report sets out an investigation we undertook examining the quality and consistency of palliative care provided to adults. Since 2004, and even with a national strategy in place since 2008, numerous publications have highlighted concerns about the limitations of the delivery of palliative and end of life care. These limitations may be more noticeable in areas where funding for services is limited or where care is being delivered across wide geographical areas.
Our investigation offers a system-based lens on the delivery of palliative and end of life care, and why that delivery does not always meet people’s needs or what they should expect to receive.
Read the Report – Variations in the delivery of palliative care services to adults
NOGCA – July 2023
The National Oesophago-Gastric Cancer Audit (NOGCA) has published a report on Socioeconomic differences in the impact of oesophago-gastric cancer on survival in England which looks at the relative survival among 39,167 patients diagnosed between April 2013 and March 2017. It found that relative survival of all patients with oesophago-gastric (OG) cancer was poor among the NOGCA cohort, at less than 20% at five years from diagnosis. Among patients with a plan for curative treatment, 5-year relative survival was over 40%.
However, there was a socioeconomic gradient in relative 5-year survival across the deprivation groups, from 19.8% in the least deprived group to 15.4% in the most deprived. A gradient was also evident among patients who had a plan for treatment with curative intent (43.2% in the least deprived and 40.3% in the most deprived group), and at one year from diagnosis among patients with a non-curative treatment plan (28.6% in least deprived and 25.4% in most deprived). A greater proportion of patients in the least deprived group had a plan for curative treatment (41% vs 24% in most deprived), but differences in stage at diagnosis were not observed across the deprivation groups.
After adjusting for performance status, the “deprivation gap” in 5-year relative survival was reduced, with the adjusted relative survival being estimated at 18.4% in the least deprived group and 17.9% in the most deprived. This suggests that patient fitness makes an important contribution to the observed differences in relative survival among patients with OG cancer in different socioeconomic deprivation groups.
Read the Report – Socioeconomic differences in the impact of oesophago-gastric cancer on survival in England
Cancer Research UK – June 2023
New research from the Weatherall Institute of Molecular Medicine at the University of Oxford, and the Wellcome-MRC Cambridge Stem Cell Institute at the University of Cambridge has shown that a molecule called formaldehyde causes DNA damage to blood stem cells, which can accelerate their ageing and increase the likelihood of blood cancers.
Most importantly, this research now identifies a common link between DNA damage in blood cancer and ageing.
Previous research, led by our chief scientist Professor KJ Patel, had identified aldehydes, the group of molecules to which formaldehyde belongs, as a source of DNA damage that causes mutations in blood stem cells and increases blood cancers.
Now, this latest research shows that the DNA damage arising from formaldehyde can also age the blood stem cells.
Therefore, if we can find ways to limit formaldehyde production in our bodies, we may be able to slow, or even fully stop, this DNA damage occurring. Doing that could slow the ageing process of these cells and could be a step toward preventing certain blood cancers.
Further information – A new target to slow down ageing and reduce blood cancer risk
Background Research – Genotoxic aldehyde stress prematurely ages hematopoietic stem cells in a p53-driven manner
Cancer Services News 
