The Daily Echo today continues its week of in-depth stories and interviews that shine a light on cancer as we throw our weight behind World Cancer Day 2017 this Saturday. 

In partnership with Cancer Research UK, today we will take you behind the scenes to look at just what is being done here in Southampton where scientists are working relentlessly to fight the disease that will affect one in two of us in our lifetime.

THEY wear white coats instead of uniforms and peer into test tubes instead of gun sights.

But the 140 experts based at a Southampton research centre run by Cancer Research UK are fighting a war in almost every sense of the word.

Their main weapons are tiny “security guards” with the military-sounding title of killer T cells.

The glass-fronted building is situated a few steps from the main entrance to Southampton General Hospital. Every day thousands of people hurry past without giving it a second glance, but the ground-breaking research being carried out in the laboratories can literally mean the difference between life and death.

Staff are locked in a seemingly never-ending battle to tame a disease that has claimed countless lives since the dawn of Man.

Every day they live with the hope that their work will revolutionise cancer care and help desperately ill patients win their battle for life. 

The centre’s research is focused on harnessing the power of the body’s own defence system, helping it identify and attack any cancers that occur.

Killer T cells aim to seek out and destroy the enemy.

But the system is far from perfect. Cancer cells have the ability to “hide” from their predators, giving them the time they need to develop into life-threatening tumours.

The Southampton team is striving to alter the balance of power by enabling the body’s immune system to “see” the rogue agents and eliminate them.

They know that progress in the war against cancer can be agonisingly slow. The gap between breakthroughs made in laboratories and the start of clinical trials is usually measured in years.

But survival rates have improved dramatically in the past few decades - thanks to centres such as Southampton.

In the 1970s only one in four patients beat the disease. The figure now stands at two in four - and Cancer Research UK hopes that by 2034 it will have reached three in four.

Key members of staff at the Cancer Research UK Southampton Centre include Dr Edd James, an associate professor of cancer immunology.

The latest research into ways of preventing cancer from evading the body’s defences is expected to produce even better treatments than those used today.

Dr James said scientists and clinicians had already taken a “huge leap forward” in their fight against one of the world’s biggest killers.

“Some patients who would previously have been in the last chance saloon are now cancer-free and will hopefully remain so for many years,” he said.

“When you step back and examine what’s happened in the past 20 years you realise what a long way we’ve come.”

Looking to the future he added: “We won’t necessarily stop cancer occurring but very effective new treatments will allow the body to get rid of it.

“Being treated for cancer will be akin to being treated for any other disease. A cancer diagnosis won’t be the death sentence it was perceived to be 30 or 40 years ago.”

But the bad news is that more people are getting cancer, largely as a result of Britain’s ageing population. According to Cancer Research UK, one in every two people will develop the disease at some point in their lives.

The complicated process that eventually triggers cancer can start at an early age.

Dr James said: “Every cell renews itself but the process is never 100-per-cent effective. With each passing year you’re exposed to more chemicals and toxins and the number of mutations start to accumulate.

“You can take certain steps to minimise your risk but there are no guarantees.

“I’ve never smoked and I don’t drink to excess. The old adage ‘everything in moderation’ is still relevant.”

Southampton General Hospital is also home one of the Experimental Cancer Medicine Centres (ECMC) based in cities across the UK.

They are staffed by scientists and clinicians who drive the discovery, development and testing of new treatments that aim to combat cancer.

The patients who agree to take part in what are known as early-phrase trials help ensure that discoveries made in ECMC laboratories become treatments in the future. 

Prof Tony Williams said: “Part of our work centres on lung cancer, the treatment for which is far less successful than we would wish.

“But more people are living with cancer, which is actually a large number of conditions all under one banner. A number of cancers are now curable, whereas in the past they weren’t.”

Asked about cancer survival rates in the future he added: “I’m very, very hopeful.

“A lot of things are happening in the world of science. We’re also seeing collaboration between the public, professionals and the public to support the targeting of cancer.

“The information we’re gleaning from all of this is coming together for the first time. That’s what’s driving us forward to find new ways of increasing survival.”