by Julia Rogers

PIONEERING work by PhD student Sam Godfrey could mean kinder treatments and a longer life for cancer patients in the future.

Sam, 23, is one student already benefiting from a £5,000 grant from the Kent Cancer Trust.

He was awarded an Alumni Scholarship from the University of Kent to pay for his three-year PhD into acute myeloid leukaemia, but needed further money to pay for his research materials.

Under the direction of senior lecturers Dr Dan Lloyd and Dr Peter Nicholls, Sam's project is to develop a targeted therapy which will deliver a short range radiation dose specifically to the leukaemia cells in the body.

This will leave all the healthy cells unaffected and, hopefully, lead to far fewer side effects than those with current chemotherapy treatments.

AML is a cancer of the white blood cells and usually affects people over the age of 40. At present the most common treatment is chemotherapy.

Dr Lloyd said: "Chemo kills the healthy cells as well as the bad ones – and the side effects can be pretty horrific.

"When a patient gets over 65, often they are too sick to be treated with chemotherapy as the treatment can be quite severe."

Research has already identified a specific protein which is only present in AML cells.

Sam's project involves working with an antibody which has been engineered to attach itself to these "markers" on AML cells, but not the healthy cells.

Sam will attempt to attach a dose of radiation to the antibody, which was developed at the University of Kent with the support of the Leukaemia Research Fund, to kill the AML cells only. This would greatly reduce the debilitating side effects.

He will also attempt to "fine tune" the antibody so that once bound to the AML cells, it will exert maximum toxicity.

Sam said: "If successful, this treatment would be mild enough to use on patients beyond 65 and hopefully extend their life."

Sam said: "This work could save lives. It is a fantastic feeling. It makes me feel very humble."

Dr Lloyd said: "There is a long line of research ahead. However, this preclinical development and evaluation will hopefully lead to a promising new agent."

For more details about the work of the Kent Cancer Trust visit www.kentcancertrust.org.uk