Dr Vivienne Hughes will conduct research into a gene that could be used to target treatment directly at breast cancer cells. The Gunnar Nilsson Cancer Treatment Trust Fund has provided funding for the collaborative project between the University of Glasgow and the Beatson Oncology Centre (BOC).

Set up in memory of Grand Prix winner Gunnar Nilsson, who died in 1978, the Fund has granted £155,000 to the Glasgow project. The money will be used to pay two years' salary for the Clinical Fellow, and meet the associated costs of laboratory and imaging facilities.

The project is formally entitled: 'Radio-isotope imaging and therapy in patients with breast carcinomas which express the sodium iodide symporter gene'.

It will involve the laboratory-based examination of tumour samples to establish the presence of the gene, which is believed to be over-expressed in breast tumours, and clinical trials to explore the possibility of directly delivering chemical treatments to affected cells.

Dr Hughes' research work will be supervised by University of Glasgow Senior Lecturer and BOC Consultant Dr Jeff Evans, in collaboration with the Beatson Laboratories, the Department of Pathology at the Royal Infirmary of Glasgow, Professor James McKillop in the Univesity's Department of Medicine at Glasgow Royal Infirmary and Beatson-based, Professor Roy Rampling.

"This represents the first jointly-supervised project between Radiation Oncology and Medical Oncology in Glasgow in recent years," says Professor Rampling. "Also involving the Departments of Imaging Medicine and Pathology, it represents an important landmark in integration."

The broad aim of the project is to test a new approach to developing a treatment based on targeting breast cancer cells with radioactive molecules. At present, it is whole organs that are treated and the scientists believe that approach could be refined.

"It would be inappropriate to raise expectations too much at this stage, but this work could eventually lead to a new therapy for breast cancer patients," says Dr Jeff Evans.

"From previous small studies, we believe that a particular gene is over-expressed in breast cancer, and that it might have the ability to take up radioactive material that could target the tumour cells themselves. Potentially, this research project would help us to tackle the next step - creating new treatments. However hat is a long way ahead."

The two-year project will be based at the Beatson Laboratories at Garscube, and will involve the BOC Clinical Trials Unit.

"This is an important study and the team is to be congratulated for winning the first Gunnar Nilsson award for clinical research," says Beatson Oncology Centre Medical Director, Professor Alan Rodger. "It is great news for Glasgow's cancer researchers, and potentially for cancer patients."

The award is named after the Swedish Formula One racing driver, Gunnar Nilsson, who won the 1977 Belgium Grand Prix. A cancer sufferer himself, Nilsson was treated at London's Charing Cross Hospital, where there is a linear accelerator suite that carries his name.

"I would rather be remembered as a man who did work to fight cancer and helped others than the man who won the 1977 Belgium Grand Prix," said Nilsson, who died in 1978.

The research Fellowship that has been set up in his honour will ensure that his commitment to pursuing better cancer treatments for patients will continue.

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For more information, call Judith Hodgson at the University Press Office on 0141 330 3535 or Pennie Taylor at Beatson Oncology Centre on 07718 523418

First published: 16 March 2004