“Prognostic and predictive biomarkers in oesophagogastric cancer”

The standard treatment of patients with stomach or gullet cancer is chemotherapy alone or followed by surgery. However, despite all the discoveries that have been made in the last decade, there is currently no test available in the clinic to find out what approach is best for an individual patient. Our research tried to fill this knowledge gap.

This research found that the presence of immune cells within the tumour can indicate whether a patient will benefit from chemotherapy after surgery. Furthermore, we discovered that the distribution of the tumour cells e.g. whether they are evenly distributed in the tissue or not, can predict whether chemotherapy will work or not. We think that these markers will significantly improve patient treatment decisions in the near future.