Projects we fund

Overview

Around 15 per cent of cancers are caused by viral or bacterial infections. The majority of infection-related cancers occur in the developing world, where the burden of infectious disease is the greatest. In theory, these cancers are preventable – by avoidance of infection, early treatment or vaccination. This innovative project’s primary aim is to identify the different types of childhood cancer that are associated with HIV infection. They’ll also determine exposure to other infections by using new technologies to analyse blood samples taken from participating children. Another key aim is to establish a bank of blood samples – this will enable us to investigate other environmental and genetic factors that relate to rare cancers in children.

What difference will this project make?

As well as the risks of developing cancer through exposure to infection, we know that immunodeficiency – the state in which the body’s ability to fight infectious disease is compromised or absent – increases the risk. Immunodeficiency is usually acquired either through treatment with immune-suppressing drugs or through infection with HIV or certain other diseases. A range of adult cancers are associated with HIV infection but there are few published studies on the risk of cancer in HIV infected children. There are important differences between children and adults in this respect, but studies are difficult to carry out because children with both cancer and HIV are relatively rare. This unique project is based in paediatric oncology centres in South Africa, Namibia, Malawi, and Uganda. The team aim to recruit children being seen for the first time with a new diagnosis of cancer, children who are routinely tested for HIV as part of standard procedures. The work will improve our understanding of how viruses trigger cancer and will help devise new ways to prevent certain forms of the disease, not just in children from southern Africa but potentially in children worldwide. It will also create a substantial bank of biological material available for future studies.