Courses

Delivered over one afternoon session, Dr Elaine Vickers – a leading independent educator on the science of new cancer treatments – will guide you through many of the most relevant topics relating to modern systemic treatments for haematological cancers.

Session 1: The first session will focus on how haematological cancers develop and the faulty cells that cause them. Elaine will also describe the unique features of B cells and explain why they give rise to over 80% of haematological cancers diagnosed in the UK. Elaine also explains the mechanisms of action of various treatments given to people with B cell cancers: chronic lymphocytic leukaemia, acute lymphoblastic leukaemia, and non-Hodgkin lymphoma.

Session 2: In the second session, Elaine explores treatments for multiple myeloma, acute myeloid leukaemia, Hodgkin lymphoma, and chronic myeloid leukaemia. She also explains the science behind CAR T cell therapy and describes the progress made to date and innovations for the future.

Audience

Dr Vickers’ goal is to explain the science that underpins each treatment. She also hopes to provide learners with a broad understanding of why treatments work well for some patients but not for others.

This half day course is ideal for research nurses, clinical nurse specialists, pharmacists and clinical trials coordinators. It may also be of interest to other healthcare professionals involved in the diagnosis and treatment of people with haematological cancers, and to junior doctors.

ACCEND

NHS England’s ACCEND Programme aims to support the development of a skilled and knowledgeable cancer workforce.

This course supports Component 3 of the ACCEND pathway, the Education Framework.

Specifically, this course’s objectives and learning outcomes meet core cancer knowledge needs at both the ‘Foundation of Cancer Care’ and ‘Fundamentals of Cancer Care’ levels.

The course will enhance learners’ understanding of cancer biology, the mechanism of action of systemic cancer treatments, and the use of biomarkers to select the best treatments for each patient.

The knowledge gained through this course will empower staff to feel confident when communicating with patients and their families, and with clinical and non-clinical colleagues.

Detailed description

Session 1

Presentation 1 – Biology and genetics of haematological cancers

• Cell of origin of different haematological cancers
• Types of DNA damage in haematological cancers
• Consequences of common chromosome translocations and other mutations
• Understanding the incidence of blood cancers in infants and children

Presentation 2 – Features of B cell cancers & an overview of treatment approaches

• Why most haematological cancers are derived from B cells
• Important features of B cell cancers, e.g. indolent vs. aggressive, the effect of TP53 mutations, the importance of B cell receptor signalling
• Antibody-based treatments: naked antibodies, conjugated antibodies, BiTEs & bi-specifics
• Small molecules with kinase and non-kinase targets
• Cell-based therapies

Presentation 3 – Treatments for B cell cancers: chronic lymphocytic leukaemia, non-Hodgkin lymphoma and acute lymphoblastic leukaemia

• CD20-targeted antibody therapies (e.g. rituximab, obinutuzumab)
• B cell receptor signalling pathway inhibitors targeting BTK, PI3Kδ & CD79B (e.g. ibrutinib, acalabrutinib, idelalisib, polatuzumab vedotin)
• Bcl-2 inhibitors (e.g. venetoclax)
• Bi-specific antibodies that act as T cell engagers (e.g. blinatumomab, glofitamab, mosunetuzumab, epcoritamab, odronextamab)

Session 2

Presentation 4 – Treatments for myeloma

• Proteasome inhibitors (e.g. bortezomib)
• Immunomodulators (e.g. thalidomide, pomalidomide) and novel cereblon modulators (e.g. iberdomide, mezigdomide)
• Monoclonal antibodies targeting CD38 (e.g. daratumumab, isatuximab)
• T cell engagers targeting BCMA and GPRC5D (e.g. talquetemab, teclistamab, elranatamab)
• Antibody-drug conjugates (e.g. balantamab mafodotin)

Presentation 5 – Treatments for acute myeloid leukaemia, Hodgkin lymphoma, and chronic myeloid leukaemia

• Treatments for acute myeloid leukaemia: an overview of targets and focus on FLT3 inhibitors
• Bcr-Abl inhibitors for chronic myeloid leukaemia (e.g. imatinib, dasatinib, nilotinib, ponatinib, asciminib)
• Immune checkpoint inhibitors for Hodgkin lymphoma (e.g. pembrolizumab, nivolumab)

Presentation 6 –  CAR T cell therapy for haematological cancers

• Overview of the CAR T cell process
• CAR protein design – what each bit does and why it matters
• CAR protein targets
• Reasons for side effects of CAR T cells
• Reasons for resistance and relapse
• Overview of the results so far, the lessons learned, and what the future might look like

Pre-course preparation

Elaine has created two YouTube playlists about cancer biology and cancer treatments to help learners get the most out of her courses. Each playlist contains 10 videos between 3 and 8 minutes long.

Elaine advises “If you’re short on time and you’re not sure about the relationship between DNA, genes and proteins, I would suggest watching the Cells, DNA, genes and chromosomes and From genes to proteins videos from the Cancer Basics playlist as a priority. Also, if you’re new to cancer, I’d recommend the Mutations cause cancer video and, in order to understand how cancer cells interact with the cells around them, watch the Tumours are complicated places video.”

“In the Cancer Treatments playlist, there are videos about all the various treatments I’ll be mentioning. The two I’d prioritise explain why we use small chemical compounds (small molecules) and antibodies as cancer treatments. If you have more time, do also watch the videos on kinase inhibitors and immune checkpoint inhibitors.”

About Elaine Vickers

Elaine Vickers of Science Communicated Ltd has a PhD in Molecular Biology. She has worked as a cancer educator for over twenty years.

She is passionate about demystifying the science behind cancer biology and the latest cancer treatments such as kinase inhibitors, monoclonal antibodies, and immunotherapies.

Elaine is experienced in teaching people with any level of scientific or medical knowledge. She particularly loves teaching nurses and other health professionals who might feel daunted by the idea of learning about cancer science.

Her book, A Beginner’s Guide to Targeted Cancer Treatments and Cancer Immunotherapy, is now in its second edition. The first edition was Highly Commended by the British Medical Association book awards.

Elaine also makes short educational videos on cancer biology and treatments, which you can find on her YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/@DrElaineVickers

Financial information

If you are employed by Newcastle Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, you can use the coupon code NUTH at the checkout to make a provisional booking and you will need to arrange access to in-house development funding. Your booking will remain provisional until your request has been validated with a funding/study leave reference.

If you are not employed by the Newcastle Hospitals an online card payment is required at the point of booking. Alternatively, if you are to be funded by your employer an invoice can be requested by using the coupon code Invoice.

If you are a LET employee you will need to pay by card as we are unable to invoice LETs.

Please see Coupons for further information relating to coupon codes and how to use them at checkout.

Cancellation and refunds policy

Should you no longer be able to attend the event on the booked date, please contact the Academy as we may be able to offer an alternative date subject to an admin charge.

Should you still wish to cancel your booking, you or your employer will be charged as per the fees outlined below.  Please contact [email protected]t to cancel your booking.

If you do not attend on the day, you will be charged the full cost of the event place.

See our Terms & Conditions and Cancellations & Refunds pages for more details.