In his historic work, “De Humanis Corporis Fabrica” [On the Fabric of the Human Body] Italian anatomist Andreas Vesaluis [1514-1564] revolutionised medicine and our understanding of the human body and its composition. In the 21st century we hope to reinvigorate this revolution and bring our understanding of the fabric of body composition down to the radiological, cellular and molecular level.
With the BiCyCLE project; an acronym for Body Composition manipulation in CoLorectal cancEr; we are attempting to modify that very human fabric with our hypothesis being that we can alter not only survival after cancer surgery but also long term survival for those treated with bowel cancer.
It is our view that we can manipulate that human fabric with relatively simple interventions and produce a bespoke fit for each of our patients that allows us to give them the best quality of life and outcome before and after their treatments.
Just like clothing fabrics may have different compositions, the variation in human body composition; the quality and quantity of muscle and extent and type of fat in a human body, can exert so many significant effects.
Our own team has established in recent published studies that certain features of the “host“ or patient’s body composition and immune response are related to both We aim to not only determine whether these body composition and immune factors can be modified but also with modification produce positive influences upon outcome but also address whether additional, potentially modifiable, factors can be identified.
Now, through clinical trials, modern scientific techniques and national and international collaboration we hope to advance the understanding of the role of body composition in colorectal cancer.
This work has been supported and in part be inspired by philanthropist, business man and fashion designer Mr George Davies in collaboration with the St Mark’s Hospital Foundation.
BiCyCLE who’s who? – Our team