We are delighted to be able to announce our latest retinoblastoma research award to Professor Yellapantula for his project “Prognostic stratification and early detection of relapsed retinoblastoma using aqueous humour based cfDNA screening”.
Cancers shed DNA fragments, called cell-free DNA (cfDNA), into bodily fluids, which helps us to detect genomic changes driving tumour growth. Retinoblastoma cfDNA can be found in the watery fluid from the eye called the aqueous humour (AH). This team will be examining AH collected during treatment, to see if they can:
1) detect relapse earlier than current screening methods
2) use end of treatment cfDNA levels to inform the prognosis of retinoblastoma.
3) discover the genomic and clinical features that differentiate low and high risk of relapse.
You can read more about this new research, as well as other ongoing CHECT-funded studies, at https://chect.org.uk/research/projects-under-way/