DR-204 Drivers of therapy resistance in cancer of the head and neck

Head and neck cancer can be cured in approximately half of patients suitable for radical treatment with radiotherapy. Treatment failures often manifest with local relapse, and those patients who relapse often have limited treatment options and poor clinical outcomes – a significant unmet clinical need. The biology underpinning resistance to therapy in head and neck cancer is unknown. We intend to use the Hartwig cohort to compare with patients whose cancers are yet to be treated, and with a cohort who experienced relapse despite radiotherapy in a large clinical trial, to see if similar genomic characteristics can be found. This could help identify future new biomarkers for radiotherapy.

Nick Turner, The Institute of Cancer Research, United Kingdom