Dimbleby lab to save thousands from cancer

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The Dimbleby Research Laboratory, which opens today, is one of only 10 in the world developing drug-matching technology.

As cancer cells do not act in the same way in all people, experts hope to save thousands of lives by matching patients with the most effective treatment.

The centre at King's College London has been established in memory of Richard Dimbleby who died from cancer after a distinguished broadcasting career.

His son David said many more people are now able to live with the disease because of advances in diagnosis and treatment.

The Question Time presenter said: "I can remember my father's wish when he was in hospital in the Sixties with cancer. It was for a comfortable pillow.

"It would be a fitting tribute for my father if, in the next 40 years, people no longer had to spend time in hospital wishing they had a comfortable pillow."

Scientists at the new laboratory will use imaging technology to monitor cancer cells and discover early on how a patient is responding to drug treatment.

DNA testing is already widely used for patients with a family history of the disease to pinpoint the gene responsible and the most effective treatment.

But it is harder to test patients without a "cancer gene" so precious time is often lost in giving them unsuitable drugs.

Also, some drugs appear effective in the early stages only for the impact to lessen as the treatment advances.

Professor Tony Ng, who pioneered the technology and is heading the team at the Dimbleby Research Laboratory, said tissue imaging was potentially life-saving.

He said: "You may only have a few weeks left and you have wasted precious time if you're on the wrong drug. This is all about which patient we should be treating and with what drugs."