In 2018 The Christie began treating patients with specific types of cancer with high-energy proton beam therapy (PBT). Our research is central to this clinical provision and will ensure that patients always have access to the latest developments in the field.
About proton beam therapy
Proton beam therapy (PBT) is a radically new type of radiotherapy.
It has the potential to improve the precision and targeting of radiation therapy (RT) leading to fewer side effects, faster recovery and better outcomes for patients. It also has the potential to target radio-resistant hypoxic tumours and other tumours that are difficult to treat by more conventional means.
In PBT, unlike conventional X-ray radiotherapy, protons deliver the majority of dose to a defined depth (the Bragg peak), with little dose delivered past this point. By modulating the energy and position of the Bragg peak the dose can be painted over the tumour volume. This allows more dose to get to the tumour while sparing the healthy tissue surrounding it. PBT also offers the potential to treat tumours very close to critical organs because there is no exit dose.
Further information is provided within the Benefits of proton beam therapy at The Christie video (The Christie, 6.19: YouTube).
Scientific and technological challenges of PBT
PBT is still in its relative infancy and there are some scientific and technological challenges to be addressed for it to achieve its full potential.
Our current major research activities are aimed at tackling the key scientific and technological challenges for PBT.
The PRECISE group
The PRECISE group (Proton research at The Christie and the University’s Division of Cancer Sciences) conduct our PBT research. The group has a dedicated research facility – known as the ‘research room’ within the clinical proton therapy centre aimed at addressing these challenges.
The research in PRECISE takes a multidisciplinary approach spanning from basic research to applied and translational research leading into clinical trials. The research is designed to improve the outcomes for patients both in terms of survival and quality of life.
The multidisciplinary research team brings together The University of Manchester, The Christie and the Cancer Research UK Manchester Centre (a designated Major Centre). The group has seen rapid growth and now has over 30 researchers with academic and clinical expertise.
The PRECISE group is led by Dr Michael Taylor.
Funding
The PRECISE group funding comes from most major research funding bodies in the UK. This includes Cancer Research UK (CRUK), Engineering & Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC), Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC) and NC3Rs, and EU Horizon 2020. We are also part of the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) Manchester Biomedical Research Centre and the Manchester CRUK Major Centre.
£200m
Grant income generated featuring our research.
£125m
Government investment in clinical proton therapy treatment in Manchester.
£10m
Investment in research facilities.
Research room
The research room is located within the clinical proton beam therapy centre at The Christie. It has been developed in parallel with the clinical treatment facility and is a unique research resource. It is available for use by the wider research community upon request.
The room shares the same cyclotron accelerator used by the clinical rooms and features a pencil beam scanning nozzle which is the same as that used in the clinical facilities. This ensures our experiments can emulate the beam delivery in the gantry treatment rooms of the clinical centre.
The research room has a horizontal beam line which transport the beam to the scanning nozzle and then to modular experimental end-stations. These end-stations are interchangeable to allow the maximum flexibility in the design of experiments and optimum use of the beam time available for research.
Hypoxia endstation
Most of our radiobiological research uses “Hypoxia endstation”, bespoke equipment designed as a collaboration between the group, Thermo Fisher Scientific and Don Whitley Scientific.
This endstation is an environmentally controlled cabinet capable of reaching 0.1% O2. A 6-axis robotic arm is used to pick biological samples from a “hotel” of 36 samples. The robot holds the sample in front of a Kapton window which the proton beam is scanned through – providing a high throughput research platform to maximise beamtime. The endstation also contains a WellWash Versa for automated cell fixing at specified timepoints post irradiation.
Biological preparation room
Adjoining the research room there is a biological preparation room for setting up experiments. This small lab contains the critical equipment required to conduct radiobiological research: a tissue culture hood, cell incubators, microscopy and a hypoxia chamber. There is also a control room for remotely controlling the beam and experimental end-stations.
A national and European facility
The research room effectively runs as a national facility. External researchers can conduct their high-energy proton experiments here.
Please contact us for more information, including how to access the facility.
Major research activities
Our research aims to address all the main challenges of PBT.
Activity currently focuses on a few key areas spanning the full scale of PBT research, from utilising computational simulations through to experiments in our research room.
Highlight publications
- A preclinical radiotherapy dosimetry audit using a realistic 3D printed murine phantom (Nature.com).
- Effects of Differing Underlying Assumptions in In Silico Models on Predictions of DNA Damage and Repair (BioOne digital library).
- Quantification of damage to plasmid DNA from 35 MeV electrons, 228 MeV protons and 300 kVp X-rays in varying hydroxyl radical scavenging environments (Oxford Academic).
- Proposing a Clinical Model for RBE Based on Proton Track-End Counts (ScienceDirect).
- Characterisation of the UK high energy proton research beamline for high and ultra-high dose rate (FLASH) irradiation (IOP Science).
- Hi-C implementation of genome structure for in silico models of radiation-induced DNA damage (PLOS Computational Biology).
- A computational approach to quantifying miscounting of radiation-induced double-strand break immunofluorescent foci (Nature.com).
- Functional image guided adaptive radiotherapy (fig-art) in pbt h+n treatment planning for changes in hypoxia using oxygen-enhanced mri imaging (ScienceDirect).
Training
We run two educational training programmes:
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