The Mesothelioma UK Patient Carers Day and Race Night

We travelled up on the Thursday after leaving our beloved dog in the kennels and rushing to the station for the train to London than Tamworth arriving at the hotel at 1pm. That was an easy journey.

Then we got ready and and was in the taxi to travel to the Night At The Races.

This was held at National Memorial Arboretum in Burton-on-Trent which was 8 miles away way our in the countryside but it is the centre of the UK

The National Memorial Arboretum is Britain’s year-round national site of remembrance at Alrewas, near Lichfield, Staffordshire, United Kingdom. It is a spiritually uplifting place which honours the fallen, recognises service and sacrifice, and fosters pride in the British Armed Forces and civilian community

In 2017, after undergoing a large scale regeneration project, the Arboretum’s new award-winning Remembrance Centre was officially opened by HRH The Duke of Cambridge on 23 March.^[2] Featuring three new exhibition galleries, larger restaurant and shop, separate coffee shop and a beautiful cloistered courtyard with garden, it provides visitors with facilities fitting that of a large scale visitor attraction

The idea for the Arboretum was conceived by Commander David Childs CBE in 1988, who wished to establish a national focus or ‘centre’ for Remembrance. Following a meeting with Group Captain Leonard Cheshire VC, an appeal was launched in 1994 by the then Prime Minister, John Major. He believed that the Arboretum would form a living tribute to service men and women for future generations to reflect upon and enjoy.

The future of the project became assured when three proposals were agreed. These were: for the site to be the location of the Armed Forces Memorial; for the Ministry of Defence to pay a significant grant-in-aid to allow for free entry and that The Royal British Legionwould accept the gift of the site as the focus for the Nation’s year-round Remembrance.

The project began with no money, no land, no staff and no trees. The National Lottery, in the form of the Millennium Commission, granted some forty per cent of the funds needed and this was matched by thousands of donations, both large and small, from a wide variety of organisations both military and civilian, men and women, corporate and voluntary

Planting began on the reclaimed gravel workings, bordered by the Rivers Trent and Tame, gifted to the charity by Lafarge in 1997. The initial planting took place thanks to grants from the Forestry Commission and the National Forest, and since then has been shaped by a staff of thousands: a small paid group; a dedicated and active Friends of the National Memorial Arboretum organisation; and countless others who have either planted individual trees or helped create a memorial for their organisation.

The Arboretum was officially opened on 16 May 2001. It is a registered charity and is part of The Royal British Legion family of charities.

So this was the setting for Mesothelioma UKs 9th Conference so in away I to was celebrating my 9th conference as Im coming up to 10 years of survival as my story started 1st Jan 2009 with a burnt arm and a diagnosis of a Trapped Ulnar Nerve.

We all greeted everyone and had a welcome drink and then sat down to a wonderful meal.

I sat next to Environmental Essentials James Wakefield who a colleague  on Linkedin  said  An honour and privilege for James Wakefield when he met the amazing Mavis Nye BCAh at the Mesothelioma UK ‘A night at the races’ event. Thank you Mavis for taking the time to share your incredible journey with us and for all your hard work and dedication towards your charity work.—-Believe me the honour was mine as this delightful young man and his colleagues kept me amused all night as we bet on the horses. What an exciting night that must have raised so much Donations.

There wasn’t many Mesowarriors there but those that were we had a hug and really enjoyed ourselves.

Brian Wallis  who is very involved with  Mesothelioma UK Armed Forces initiatives, was so kind to take up back to our hotel and we fell into bed at Midnight knowing we had to get up early in the morning.

We managed that as the alarm rang to get up and shower and set off with Marika And Yvonne of LASAG Support Group who lucky enough were staying at our Hotel.

It was a very informative day as we learnt so much.

Mike Peak opened the conference and reported what Mesothelioma has achieved

David Bardell gave a talk about the Arboretum.

Dean Fennel told us of the latest trials and treatment.

Genetic assessments of patients may also identify which are likely to respond better to surgery as well as chemotherapy, and genetic research could also investigate why some patients’ personal biology means the disease progresses very slowly.

Other positive developments include the government’s identification of mesothelioma as a research priority, while healthcare professionals and scientists are increasingly interested in working in this area.

The Mist trial First arm this month it has taken a while to set it up.

http://www.mesothelioma-research-leicester.com/mist/

Avastin Chemo known as Bevacizumab is sometimes classified as a chemotherapy drug, but it does not fight cancer in the usual way as a cytotoxic agent attacks the disease. Whereas typical chemotherapy attacks rapidly dividing cancer cells, this drug ensures that tumors don’t receive necessities like oxygen and nutrients.  seems to still be to  expensive for the NHS so Patients are still paying. The room was very long and narrow so I wasnt able to ask questions I wanted to ask about this and the CIRUS trial and when they both will be trailed here in the UK.

VIM trial you need Barc 1

And Rare cancers do better ?

Promise Trial is finished and we are awaiting results

Confirm trial is doing well recruiting in many hospitals

Gut Bacterial Dean Is researching more — COULD THE SUCCESS OF immunotherapy rest on what kinds of bugs live in your gut? Recent research findings suggest yes — and point to steps that could help patients get the right microbiotic mix before beginning this type of treatment.

Specific strains of intestinal bacteria increase the response rate to immunotherapy in patients with advanced melanoma and some other cancer types, according to results from three studies published recently in the journal Science.

Although immunotherapy has improved cancer treatment, just 35 percent of patients with melanoma respond well, indicating a need for better therapies, according to Thomas Gajewski, M.D., Ph.D, the AbbVie Foundation Professor of Cancer Immunotherapy at University of Chicago Medicine and a leader of one of the studies.

Dendritic Cells in the Cross Hair for the Generation of Tailored Vaccines

Vaccines represent the discovery of utmost importance for global health, due to both prophylactic action to prevent infections and therapeutic intervention in neoplastic diseases. Despite this, current vaccination strategies need to be refined to successfully generate robust protective antigen-specific memory immune responses. To address this issue, one possibility is to exploit the high efficiency of dendritic cells (DCs) as antigen-presenting cells for T cell priming. DCs functional plasticity allows shaping the outcome of immune responses to achieve the required type of immunity. Therefore, the choice of adjuvants to guide and sustain DCs maturation, the design of multifaceted vehicles, and the choice of surface molecules to specifically target DCs represent the key issues currently explored in both preclinical and clinical settings. Here, we review advances in DCs-based vaccination approaches, which exploit direct in vivo DCs targeting and activation options. We also discuss the recent findings for efficient antitumor DCs-based vaccinations and combination strategies to reduce the immune tolerance promoted by the tumor microenvironment.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6030256/

Prof Bill Cookson  gave a talk on Whats happening in the Lab.

William Cookson is Professor of Genomic Medicine at Imperial College London and Head of Respiratory Sciences for the College. He is Head of the Asmarley Centre for Genomic Medicine at the National Heart and Lung Institute. He won a Joint Wellcome Senior Investigator Award with Professor Miriam Moffatt in 2011, and was elected to the College of NIHR Senior Investigators in 2013.

Many of the genes identified by these studies are concentrated in the airway epithelium, so that asthma is now recognised as a disease of the airway mucosa. Genes identified by the group such as ORMDL3, IL33, TSLP and IL18R1 are the focus for new asthma therapies.

In addition to detailed investigation of the functions of these major asthma genes, the group are also systematically charting inflammatory pathways by gene expression, RNA sequencing, and gene knockdowns in cellular models of inflammation. These studies are the basis for developing new therapies for asthma and mucosal inflammation (genomic pharmacology).

The group have pioneered gene expression mapping to identify the function of loci identified by genome-wide association studies. The resulting comprehensive maps of expression quantitative trait loci (eQTLs) (Dixon A. et al., Nature Genetics 2007, Liang L. et al, Genome Resarch 2013) have aided the systematic detection of genes underlying many complex disorders and have contributed to the 1000 genomes project.

The group are currently concentrating their mapping efforts on the epigenome, by measuring changes in the methylation of particular regions of the genome that regulate gene expression. Their early results suggest that this will be a rich source of new biological insights into asthma and allergic diseases.

A parallel strand in the group’s work has been to understand at the molecular level the interactions between genes and environment, with the realistic hope that this will lead to effective prevention of the disease (Cookson, Nature 1999). Cookson was co-coordinator of the mutinational GABRIEL consortium that made many discoveries about the effects of genes and environment on asthma in Europe (Moffatt M. et al., New England Journal of Medicine 2010; Ege M. et al., New England Journal of Medicine 2011).

In the face of a prevailing wisdom that the airways of normal individuals are completely sterile, the group were first to use DNA sequencing to show that the airways contain a characteristic microbiota, and that this bacterial community is disturbed in patients with asthma and COPD (Hilty et al., PLoSOne 2010). Studies of the airway microbiome are now a central part of the group’s research, as they apply culture-independent sequencing methods to other lung diseases, including pulmonary fibrosis, cystic fibrosis and bronchiectasis.

The group are developing large-scale genomic studies of lung cancer, in collaboration with G.M. Lathrop at McGill Genome Centre in Canada. They are currently sequencing multiple lung cancers to identify the full spectrum of mutations driving the disease. At the same time the group are measuring global gene expression to define new therapeutic targets.

Ian Jarrod Head of Research BLF reported how British Lung Foundation Pass grants to Mesothelioma UK to fund Trials

Aim of our mesothelioma research

Our mesothelioma research aims to tackle the disease from many different angles. We’re looking at:

• understanding what mutations and genetic changes drive the disease
• enhancing the effectiveness of existing treatments
• pioneering new and better treatments
• providing better care for people living with the disease

We hope to see our researchers follow the success seen in many other cancer types in the next few years.

They set up the mesothelioma research network (MRN) to bring together researchers working on mesothelioma.

The MRN helps researchers share ideas and support each other, to get better results faster. We hope it will mean that researchers’ great ideas can be more quickly translated into new ways of diagnosing and treating people with mesothelioma.

What does the MRN do?

The MRN will:

• Bring researchers working in mesothelioma together to meet one another
• Help researchers share knowledge, skills and resources between them
• Help researchers stay in touch with what mesothelioma research is happening in the UK and globally
• To encourage research investment in mesothelioma
• To attract and keep the interest of researchers in this field
• Help avoid unnecessary duplication of research effort
• Encourage collaboration, particularly in terms of applications to major funding bodies
• Encourage an ongoing conversation about mesothelioma research priorities to inform the strategies of the BLF and other funders
• Bring the MesobanK to researchers – a collection of useful samples from people with mesothelioma

Who can join the network?

Researchers based in the NHS or an academic institute who work in, or have an interest in working in, mesothelioma.

Basic and translational scientists and clinicians at any point of their career, from the earliest stage through to senior and established researchers.

We encourage health care professionals that are based in secondary care and who see mesothelioma patients regularly to join the MRN. This way you can keep in touch with ongoing clinical research that may benefit your patients.

Research support organisations that directly assist with mesothelioma researchers can join too. This can include funders of mesothelioma research that usually spend more than £25,000 a year.

The views of patients and carers are fed into the project by their representation on the Steering Group responsible for overseeing the MRN, but the network itself is aimed at researchers.

https://www.blf.org.uk/research/information-for-researchers/mrn

Jill Lemon Spoke of all the fund-raising carried out by so many Mesowarriors.

Then Our own Mesowarrior Tim Stokes gave a very powerful talk on Dad Years and Selfie Moments . I just love this man for his stamina and his love of exercise and so happy I have been able to have the chance to hug him xxx

Michelle Muxworthy of No Time To Lose Campaign the IOSH Videos I and Danielle took part

Nearly one in four UK construction workers believe they may have been exposed to asbestos fibres, placing them at higher risk of contracting terminal cancers later in life.