EXCLUSIVE
Dr Annie Fields is on LION to beat cancer and enjoy full life with her baby Francis (Image: Dr Annie Fields)
A revolutionary new drug trial called LION aims to ravage the world’s toughest cancers by combining immunotherapy with a pill … normally used to treat arthritis. Immunotherapy encourages our body’s defence systems to target cancer cells – while non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) reduce our bodies reactions to harmful attacks.
Inflammation can make cancer grow and cause an enzyme called COX-2 to increase – cancer cells with high levels of COX-2 are also better at avoiding the body’s immune system. Now for the first time ‘LION’ (Lifting Immune Checkpoints with NSAIDs) is combining immunotherapy with the anti-inflammatory drug celecoxib, which is normally used to treat arthritis.
The Christie cancer hospital in Manchester (Image: MEN MEDIA)
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Dr Annie Fields has battled cancer since 2021 (Image: Dr Annie Fields)
Thanks to funding from The Christie Charity and The Jon Moulton Charity Trust, LION is managed by the Liverpool Clinical Trials Centre and is a unique collaboration led by consultant medical oncologist and breast cancer specialist Dr Anne Armstrong of The Christie NHS Foundation Trust, in Manchester.
And one patient on the trial has told the Daily Express how she hopes LION will help her maul her aggressive cancer for good – so she can live a happy and full life with her husband and their newborn baby.
Married mother-of-one Dr Annie Field, 36, is a GP based in Wythenshawe, Greater Manchester, but was diagnosed with the aggressive metastatic triple negative breast cancer (mTNBC) in February 2021.
She had noticed a lump on her left breast which was growing so she had 21 weeks of chemotherapy before the lump was removed and having radiotherapy.
Coming after the pandemic and lockdown exhausted Annie bemoaned her tough two years but started to think of a brighter future ahead – and fell pregnant with her and husband Daniel’s first baby Francis.
But when 35 weeks pregnant last July and holidaying in France she fell gravely ill and after only making it to Oxford on their return journey she was rushed into hospital and told the cancer had spread.
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Dr Annie with husband Dan and their seven month-old boy Francis (Image: Dr Annie Fields)
Annie told us: “I had a three-and-a-half centimetre tumour on the back of my brain and a blood clot in my neck.”
After giving birth to Francis by Caesarean he had a seven-and-a-half hour brain surgery to remove the tumour before having radiotherapy which left her bedbound for weeks and unable to help with her newborn.
Now Annie’s on LION doing a four-week cycle of treatments hoping it will stop any more cancers spreading and help rid her of the cruel disease once and for all.
She told us: “Dan had to be a single parent for Francis’s first 24 days and had to do everything. His work were amazing giving him compassionate leave.
“There were times after my treatment last year when I was feeling so poorly. I never want to go through that again. I think my fit and healthy constitution got me through that.
“It was not exactly how I was imagining my first year of motherhood! But I want to enjoy a full life with our new family and it would be amazing if LION could grant me that.
“Not only for myself and my family but also future cancer patients would be amazing and I’m very proud to be a part of the LION trial.
“Francis is funny, cheeky and Dan and I are so lucky. He’s energetic so I need to have all the energy I can get!”
Annie before chemo affected her hair (Image: Dr Annie Fields)
Immunotherapy helps the immune system recognise cancer cells as a threat, making it better able to attack and destroy them.
Unlike traditional treatments like chemotherapy – which directly kill cancer cells – immunotherapy supports the body’s natural defences, making it a powerful tool, especially for certain tough-to-treat cancers.
But immunotherapy drugs do not work for everyone. Even in cancers where immunotherapy has shown great promise, such as melanoma, not all patients respond to treatment.
Chronic inflammation is believed to play a role in preventing the immune system from effectively targeting cancer cells.
LION hopes to change this by focusing on patients with advanced cancers, including triple-negative breast cancer, non-small cell lung cancer, and renal (kidney) cell carcinoma.
It aims to test whether adding the anti-inflammatory celecoxib to standard immunotherapy treatments can boost the body’s ability to fight cancer.
NSAIDs are a class of medications that reduce pain, inflammation, fever and blood clots.
Helping Dr Armstrong’s trial are lung consultant Dr Colin Lindsay, renal consultant Dr Tom Waddell – both from The Christie hospital – and Dr Santiago Zelenay, a cancer immunologist from the Cancer Research UK Manchester Institute, University of Manchester.
The LION trial could reshape ways to tackle aggressive cancers (Image: Getty)
With plans to recruit 89 patients, LION is already underway, with 11 patients including Annie so far enrolled.
It is open to newly diagnosed patients in the UK with advanced forms of lung, breast and renal cancers.
Participants will receive their standard NHS-approved cancer treatments, such as immunotherapy and, in some cases, chemotherapy, alongside celecoxib.
Their cancer will be monitored through regular scans, and additional blood samples will be collected for analysis by scientists at the CRUK Manchester Institute and CRUK National Biomarker Centre.
LION is currently being rolled out over six sites, including Royal Cornwall Hospital (Treliske), The Royal United Hospital Bath NHS Foundation Trust, and Weston Park Hospital, where participants for LION will be recruited from the Sheffield Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust.
Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board is also open now which has two sites, Glan Clwyd Hospital and Wrexham Maelor Hospital. Recruitment is expected to continue until April 2026.
The Christie Charity has pledged to support and fund research like this with £30m over the next five years with the ultimate aim of bringing tomorrow’s treatments to patients faster.
Louise Hadley, chief executive of The Christie Charity said: “We are committed to investing in groundbreaking research that has the potential to revolutionise treatment for some of the most aggressive cancers.
“Supporting The Christie hospital in this vital work is a priority for us, and we are proud to play such an integral part in this ambition.”
* To support the work of The Christie Charity, please go to Donate today (christie.nhs.uk) or ring 0161 446 3988.
EXCLUSIVE COMMENT – Dr Anne Armstrong, consultant medical oncologist at The Christie NHS Foundation Trust
The Christie’s Dr Anne Armstrong (Image: The Christie)
“Immunotherapy is type of treatment for cancer that aims to encourage a person’s own immune system to fight the cancer.
“It is now a standard treatment for many types of cancer and, although it can be a very effective treatment for many patients, it does not work for everyone and we need new ways to make immunotherapy treatments even more effective.
“Inflammation can make cancer grow and cause an enzyme called COX-2 can increase. One of the scientists I work with in Manchester, Dr Santiago Zelenay, has shown in laboratory experiments that cancer cells with high levels of this enzyme COX-2 can grow more and are also better at avoiding the body’s immune system.
“He was able to use anti-inflammatory drugs to make immunotherapy treatments for a variety of different cancers work better. Celecoxib is an anti-inflammatory drug and works by blocking the action of COX-2.
“Celecoxib is already used to treat inflammatory conditions, like arthritis, so we already know how the drug behaves when given to patients, but it isn’t used currently in the treatment of cancer.
“The aim of the LION study is to see if adding in celecoxib can also make immunotherapy work better in patients who have cancer.
“The LION trial marks the first time these three cancer types – breast, lung, and renal – have been studied together under one trial.
“Bringing together specialists in these cancers allows us to create a unique research platform, one that will guide future studies into multi-tumour treatments.”