This could save almost 2,000 lives every year.

A new way to treat oesophageal, colorectal, and other gastrointestinal cancers has been discovered thanks to a ground-breaking Cork research collaboration between Breakthrough Cancer Research, University College Cork, and Cork University Hospital.

Announcing the development today on World Cancer Day, the researchers say they have unlocked why some cancers are drug-resistant, which has led to the development of a new lithium-enhanced chemotherapy treatment.

The breakthrough could improve the outcomes for around 3905 people who are diagnosed with these diseases here every year, reducing the toll of almost 1750 deaths from these diseases annually.

The phenomenal discovery was made when Dr. Tracey O’Donovan, one of the lead scientists working with Dr. Sharon McKenna, Principal Investigator at Cancer Research at UCC, set up a series of tests with cells from oesophageal cancer patients.

The results were far more impressive than any combination they had seen before; the combined Chemo-Lithium therapy killed off the chemoresistant cancer cells and prevented them from returning.

Clinical trials

During the clinical trial, which has just enrolled it’s first few patients in Cork, the research team will be monitoring the safety of combining lithium with standard chemotherapy, over a range of doses.

And there’s more good news; because this is an alternative use of a known drug (lithium), it is likely to have a shorter timeframe to be adopted for treatment if it proves safe in the initial trial phase.

Consultant Oncologist Professor Seamus O’Reilly, based at Cork University Hospital and Mercy University Hospital, was so inspired by the results that he agreed to lead the clinical trials.

“The most difficult part of my job is seeing patients you think are going to respond well to treatment, do badly,” he said. “People whose lives should have been longer, whose cancer should have been cured, or whose suffering should have been less.

“More and more patients are being diagnosed with cancer in Ireland on a daily basis, and we need to extend their lives.

“Many new cancer drug treatments are expensive limiting their impact as societies and patients struggle to afford them. Lithium is cheap, widely available, and as a result this study if positive, could be globally accessible.”