What is Leiomyosarcoma?
Leiomyosarcoma (LMS) is a form of soft tissue sarcoma. Sarcomas are a group of more than 100 different rare cancer types that affect connective tissue such as muscle, blood vessels and fat.
LMS represents about 20% of soft tissue sarcomas in the UK, with around 1,000 people being diagnosed with LMS in the UK every year.
The major cancers such as breast, lung, prostate and colorectal cancers (which together account for approximately 50% of all cancers diagnosed) have naturally absorbed most research funding and it is in these areas particularly where some important gains have recently been made - particularly using modern targeted treatments and immunotherapy.
LMS predominantly affects women. While there can sometimes be good responses to treatment of which surgery is regarded as the gold standard, there are no obvious effective drug choices. Overall, five year survival for women is 45%. Survival rates have not improved in decades, and there is a pressing need to develop new treatment and individualised therapy.
LMS research in the UK
LMS receives little research funding – as is true for most rare cancers. The charity Sarcoma UK does an excellent job in raising awareness of sarcoma, and in providing support for patients and their families. Sarcoma UK also provides grants totalling £1.2m annually in amounts which average c. £120k to fund sarcoma research projects (of which LMS is one sub-type). This is important to the sarcoma research community in the UK. But research funding such as this and even that provided by Cancer Research UK, the Medical Research Council and others is necessarily spread very thinly over the wide range of sarcoma sub-types, including LMS.
The financial returns for biotech investment in research into rare cancers such as LMS are low. Funding of the required scale can only be provided in a targeted way by a not for profit fund such as LMSRF.
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A sarcoma team of international renown led by Professor Robin Jones, Head of the Royal Marsden Sarcoma Unit and leader of the Sarcoma Clinical Trials Team at the Institute of Cancer Research (ICR). Professor Jones has himself led several important international clinical trials in LMS.
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The Huang Lab at the ICR led by Professor Paul Huang. Professor Huang, who trained at Imperial College and MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology), is the Deputy Director of the Joint Royal Marsden-ICR Sarcoma Research Centre, one of the largest sarcoma research centres in Europe. His laboratory has extensive experience in LMS research and focuses on signalling networks and drug resistance in sarcomas. Professor Huang and Professor Jones work closely together on the same site in what is one of the strongest combinations of research, clinical and trials expertise in sarcoma anywhere in the world.
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An archive of sarcoma tissue samples and patient data at the Royal Marsden that is unique in the world and is as yet significantly under-explored using modern analytical techniques and AI to yield information regarding potential biomarkers and new therapies.