Exploring stromal-epithelial interactions in oesophageal cancer

食道癌在英国越来越常见。尽管目前有最好的治疗方法，但治愈的可能性仍然很小。食管内衬细胞和下面支持层细胞之间的关系是食管癌发展的基础。我们利用专门开发的模型系统来更好地理解这种关系，目的是确定新的分子作为癌症预防和治疗的靶点。我们的研究使用从食管活检中提取的人类细胞在实验室中培养食管模型。使用这个系统，我们可以确定不同细胞类型之间的相互作用以及它们对癌症进展的相对贡献。我们的总体目标是了解在癌症生长的不同阶段食管支持层细胞之间的差异，并利用这些差异设计在食管癌扩散之前检测和治疗食管癌的新方法。

Cancer of the oesophagus (gullet) is becoming more common in the UK. Despite best current treatments the likelihood of cure is still very poor. The relationship between cells lining the oesophagus and the cells in the supporting layer beneath is fundamental to the development of oesophageal cancer. We make use of a specially developed model system to better understand this relationship with the aim of identifying new molecules as targets for cancer prevention and treatment. Our research uses human cells taken from biopsies of the oesophagus to grow a model oesophagus in the laboratory. Using this system we can determine the interaction between different cell types and the relative contribution that they make to cancer progression. Our overall aim is to understand the differences between cells in the supporting layer of the oesophagus at different stages of cancer growth and use these differences to design new ways of detecting and treating oesophageal cancer before it spreads.