ICR成立于1909年，当时名为癌症医院研究所，是切尔西皇家马斯登的一个小型研究实验室。它由康诺特公爵亚瑟王子和斯特拉森公爵于1911年正式开放，当时他访问皇家马斯登皇家宪章。
当NHS于1948年成立时，ICR独立于皇家马斯登，要求两个组织在法律上分离。但ICR仍然与医院密切合作，使其能够拥有独特的“从工作台到床边”的方法，这两个组织一起被评为世界上癌症研究和治疗的顶级中心之一。
在ICR的历史进程中，该组织发展迅速，并在20世纪30年代扩展到位于富勒姆路237号的当前位置的更大场所。20 世纪 50 年代，与皇家马斯登酒店一起扩展到伦敦萨顿的第二个地点，致力于核医学的新领域，创建了医学物理和放射治疗的卓越中心。
从一开始，ICR研究人员就取得了开创性的发现，这些发现有助于推动全球癌症研究的发展，并为患者带来显着的益处。在20世纪20年代和30年代，科学家在煤焦油中首次发现了致癌化合物。在整个20世纪30年代，40年代和50年代，ICR研究人员对化疗的作用进行了重要的早期工作，开发了马法兰和苯丁酸氮芥 - 这两种药物至今仍用于治疗癌症。
在20世纪60年代，ICR研究人员提供了第一个确凿的证据，证明DNA损伤是癌症的根本原因，并显示了胸腺在我们的免疫系统中的重要作用 - 这一发现有助于为现代免疫疗法铺平道路。
在20世纪70年代和80年代，ICR帮助发现和开发了卡铂，卡铂是一种用于治疗实体瘤的药物，其副作用比现有治疗（顺铂）少。ICR科学家在20世纪80年代致力于提高放射治疗的准确性，开发出更好地靶向肿瘤的技术。他们还发现了致癌基因NRAS，并帮助发现了另一个基因RAF，然后阐明了它们在通过MAP激酶信号通路驱动癌症中的作用。
20世纪90年代发现了BRCA2，这是乳腺癌和卵巢癌家族遗传的重要基因。自2005年以来，ICR已经发现了20种临床前候选药物，并已将11种新药纳入临床试验。其中之一是阿比特龙，于2012年被NICE批准用于治疗晚期前列腺癌。
除了久负盛名的研究历史外，ICR在培养下一代癌症研究人员方面有着悠久的历史。1927年，伦敦大学承认医院和研究机构为研究生医学教学和培训中心。20多年后，当ICR从皇家马斯登大学分离出来时，ICR获得了学术地位，并成为英国研究生医学联合会的一部分。当ICR于1996年解散时，ICR成为伦敦大学的附属机构，并于2003年被公认为伦敦大学的完整学院。

The ICR was founded in 1909 as the Cancer Hospital Research Institute, a small research laboratory at the Royal Marsden in Chelsea. It was officially opened by Prince Arthur, Duke of Connaught and Duke of Strathearn in 1911, when he visited the Royal Marsden by Royal Charter.
When the NHS was formed in 1948, the ICR was independent of the Royal Marsden, requiring a legal separation of the two organisations. But ICR still works closely with the hospital, enabling it to have a unique "workbench to bedside" approach, and together the two organisations are rated as one of the world's top centres for cancer research and treatment.
Over the course of the ICR's history, the organisation grew rapidly and expanded to larger premises at its current location at 237 Fulham Road in the 1930s. In the 1950s, it expanded to a second site in Sutton, London, with the Royal Marsden Hotel, dedicated to the new field of nuclear medicine, creating a centre of excellence in medical physics and radiotherapy.
From the beginning, ICR researchers have made groundbreaking discoveries that have helped drive cancer research worldwide and have brought significant benefits to patients. In the 1920s and 1930s, scientists first identified cancer-causing compounds in coal tar. Throughout the 1930s, '40s and' 50s, ICR researchers did important early work on the role of chemotherapy, developing marfarin and butyrate mustard -- two drugs that are still used today to treat cancer.
In the 1960s, ICR researchers provided the first hard evidence that DNA damage was the root cause of cancer and showed that the thymus gland plays an important role in our immune system -- a finding that helped pave the way for modern immunotherapies.
In the 1970s and 1980s, ICR helped discover and develop carboplatin, a drug used to treat solid tumors with fewer side effects than existing treatments (cisplatin). ICR scientists worked in the 1980s to improve the accuracy of radiation therapy and develop techniques to better target tumors. They also identified the oncogene NRAS and helped discover another gene, RAF, which then elucidated their role in driving cancer through the MAP kinase signaling pathway.
In the 1990s, BRCA2, an important gene passed down from breast and ovarian cancer families, was discovered. Since 2005, the ICR has identified 20 preclinical drug candidates and has enrolled 11 new drugs in clinical trials. One of them, Abiraterone, was approved by NICE in 2012 to treat advanced prostate cancer.
In addition to its prestigious research history, ICR has a long history of training the next generation of cancer researchers. In 1927, the University of London recognized hospitals and research institutes as centres for postgraduate medical teaching and training. More than 20 years later, the ICR gained academic status when it was split from the Royal Marsden University and became part of the British Postgraduate Medical Association. When the ICR was disbanded in 1996, the ICR became an affiliate of the University of London and was recognised as a full college of the University of London in 2003.