NORTH-EAST chart toppers Perrie Edwards and Jade Thirlwall have joined their Little Mix band mates to tell cancer exactly what they think of it, by posing for defiant photos.

The pictures, which show the girls with a powerful message painted onto different parts of their bodies, have been taken to encourage women from across the North East and the UK to sign up to Cancer Research UK's Race for Life.

The gutsy message which reads, 'In your face cancer', captures the fighting spirit of this year's Race for Life event series. 

Every hour, around two people are diagnosed with cancer in the North East.

So women and girls of all ages, shapes and sizes are needed to join together as a formidable army and take on cancer at events in Sunderland, Gateshead, Newcastle, Durham, Darlington and Middlesbrough this summer.

Little Mix said: "We are incredibly proud to be supporting Cancer Research UK's Race for Life and helping the charity to fight a disease that affects every single one of us in some way. 

"Please join us and send a message to cancer, to tell it that that it's going down!"

Cancer Research UK's Race for Life, in partnership with Tesco, is an inspiring women-only series of events which raises millions of pounds every year to help defeat cancer by funding life-saving research.