The aim of this study is to find out whether it is practical and safe to collect pairs of tissue samples (“biopsies”) from people with five different types of cancer: cervical cancer, rectal cancer, head and neck cancer, nodal non‑Hodgkin lymphoma, and cutaneous lymphoma. These samples will help researchers better understand how the immune system responds to radiotherapy.

What taking part involves

• Everyone who joins the study will have at least one biopsy taken from an area that is being treated with radiotherapy. This will happen either during or after treatment.
• Some people may also need a pre‑treatment biopsy if their earlier (archived) biopsy is not suitable for the immune tests needed in the study.
• Blood samples will be taken at several points:
  • Before treatment starts (baseline)
  • During or after radiotherapy (at the same time as the study biopsy)
  • If radiotherapy continues after the on‑treatment biopsy, an extra blood sample will be taken at the end of treatment
    Who can take part

The study aims to recruit 10 patients for each cancer group, with the option to include more if recruitment is going well.