University of Birmingham dataset to accelerate bladder cancer research

Data from the University of Birmingham’s Bladder Cancer Prognosis Programme (BCPP), which has potential to support identification of new therapies, biomarker discovery, patient stratification, is now available for commercial licensing from Cancer Research Horizons, the innovation engine of Cancer Research UK

Data developed during the Cancer Research UK-funded programme has already led to the generation of important new biological insights into bladder cancer and the development of new tests to facilitate diagnosis and treatment.

Data developed during the Cancer Research UK-funded programme has already led to the generation of important new biological insights into bladder cancer and the development of new tests to facilitate diagnosis and treatment.

The full dataset contains information generated from tumour, blood and urine samples from over 900 de-identified samples, linked to clinical data that includes history and response to standard of care treatments and has a minimum of 5, and up to 15 years, of follow up.

It was assigned to Cancer Research Horizons by University of Birmingham Enterprise and adds to Cancer Research Horizons’ growing portfolio of analytics-ready data with the potential to accelerate the development of tools, targets, and approaches that could lead to improved patient outcomes.

Bladder cancer is the eleventh most common cause of cancer death in the UK with only 42.3 percent of people diagnosed with bladder cancer predicted to survive 10 years or more.

Dr. Roland Arnold, Department of Cancer and Genomic Sciences Research Fellow, University of Birmingham said: “Nearly half of bladder cancer cases are preventable and more efficient therapies and personalised medicine could significantly improve survival and quality of life for patients. Access and analysis of this dataset through Cancer Research Horizons’ portfolio have the potential to help meaningfully improve patient outcomes.”

The multi-omics dataset includes:

• Genomic data, which links back to genes or pathways, so metabolites, missing, or upregulated genes can be decoded.
• Transcriptomic data, which shows which genes are active and how cells respond to conditions like health or disease.
• Proteomic data, which contains information about the structure, function, quantity, and modifications of proteins within a cell, tissue, or organism.

Treatment-naive whole blood and tumour samples are also available for new analysis and data generation through separate agreements on a project-specific basis.

Joe Day, Senior Business Development Executive for Data & AI at Cancer Research Horizons, said: “The research data generated in the CRUK-funded Bladder Cancer Prognosis Programme have already led to the generation of important new biological insights into bladder cancer and the development of new tests to facilitate diagnosis and treatment. Responsibly sharing these de-identified datasets with appropriate new partners from academia and industry will extend the Bladder Cancer Research Centre’s mission to translate biomedical science into healthcare benefits for bladder cancer patients.”

The dataset can now be commercially licensed for a range of applications including use as training data for machine learning, biomarker discovery and validation, and development of synthetic control arms for trials requiring standard of care comparisons. Alongside Cancer Research Horizons' commercial licensing activities, the University of Birmingham will continue to support academic access to the resource through established research collaborations.