Alison Tree
Team Leader
Uro-oncology Clinical Trials
The Institute Of Cancer Research
United Kingdom
Biography
Dr Alison Tree was appointed as a consultant clinical oncologist at The Royal Marsden NHS Foundation Trust in 2014, specialising in urological malignancies. Her MD thesis was on stereotactic body radiotherapy (SBRT) techniques for prostate and oligometastatic cancer. Her current research interests include technical radiotherapy improvements in prostate cancer, combination of systemic agents with radiotherapy and oligometastatic disease.
Research Interest
The development of increasingly precise and targeted radiotherapy has enabled us to ask new questions about the optimal management of cancer patients. We now have the ability to ablate tissue as effectively as surgery, yet paradigms of treatment remain similar to decades ago. Stereotactic body radiotherapy (SBRT), particularly in prostate cancer, allows us to ask questions about the limits of hypofractionation – can we cure cancer in a single radiotherapy treatment? To answer this bold question we need to develop more responsive ways of planning radiotherapy, including delivering radiotherapy to the anatomy of that day, rather than historic anatomy from two weeks ago. The MR Linac project is key to this, allowing us to see the tumour while we treat for the first time. Clonal heterogeneity has implications for treatment resistance, particularly when part of a dynamic tumour system. Radiation has the advantage of being insensitive to genetic heterogeneity and could therefore be used to eradicate a treatment-resistant clone, prolonging the time a patient responds to their current line of systemic therapy.
Publications
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Henderson, D.R., Tree, A.C. & van As, N.J. (2015). Stereotactic Body Radiotherapy for Prostate Cancer. Clinical oncology, Vol.27(5), pp. 270-279.
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Henderson, D., Murray, J., Tree, A., Riley, U., Murray, D. & van As, N. (2015). Fiducial Marker Insertion for Image-guided Radiotherapy for Prostate Cancer: What is the Infection Rate and can Targeted Antibiotic Prophylaxis Reduce this?. Clinical oncology, Vol.27(3), pp. E5-E5.
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Ost, P., Jereczek-Fossa, B.A., Van As, N., Zilli, T., Tree, A., Henderson, D., Orecchia, R., Casamassima, F., Surgo, A., Miralbell, R., et al. (2016). Pattern of Progression after Stereotactic Body Radiotherapy for Oligometastatic Prostate Cancer Nodal Recurrences. Clinical oncology, Vol.28(9), pp. e115-e120.
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McPartlin, A.J., Li, X.A., Kershaw, L.E., Heide, U., Kerkmeijer, L., Lawton, C., Mahmood, U., Pos, F., van As, N., van Herk, M., et al. (2016). MRI-guided prostate adaptive radiotherapy – A systematic review. Radiotherapy and oncology, Vol.119(3), pp. 371-380.
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Henderson, D.R., Murray, J.R., Tree, A.C., Riley, U., Rosenfelder, N.A., Murray, D., Khoo, V.S. & van As, N.J. (2016). Targeted Antibiotic Prophylaxis for Transrectal Fiducial Marker Insertion for Prostate Radiotherapy. Clinical oncology, Vol.28(3), pp. 226-227.
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Tree, A. & Dearnaley, D. (2017). Randomised Controlled Trials Remain the Key to Progress in Localised Prostate Cancer. Eur urol, .
