In partnership with North West Cancer Research, we have awarded our third Fellowship to Dr Sarah Kitson at the University of Manchester, to try understand how the most aggressive type of womb cancer (p53 abnormal) develops, who is most at risk, and whether early changes can be targeted to prevent it.

There are four main subtypes of womb cancer and p53abn womb cancers are the most aggressive. They are more likely to spread, more likely to return after treatment, and have worse outcomes than other types of womb cancer. They are also more common in Black women.

Sarah will invite 50 women undergoing surgery for p53abn womb cancer to donate blood, womb tissue and a cervical screening sample. She will use these samples to look for the earliest gene changes that signal a cancer is forming, examine how the cancer grows and changes over time, and explore how the body’s own defense system responds during the early stages.

If successful, this project could point towards potential new drug treatments to try stop p53abn womb cancers from developing. A huge thank you to all of our supporters, and to North West Cancer Research, for helping make this fellowship possible.