Drafting a Blueprint for European Cancer Research

In an effort to save 3 million lives from cancer over the next decade, cancer researchers from around Europe gathered in Paris, France, on September 8 and 9 to launch an ambitious effort to identify the most significant research questions in oncology and outline steps to answer them. Dubbed 4.UNCAN.eu, the project will point policymakers toward funding research most likely to improve patients’ lives, plan the creation of a European cancer research data hub, and tackle the oft-neglected topic of cancer survivors’ quality of life.

“The Mission on Cancer provided a series of recommendations, and one of them is that you cannot better detect, prevent, and treat cancer without better understanding cancer. The European Commission launched a Coordination and Support Action [CSA] that will propose a blueprint to implement the so-called UNCAN.eu [UNderstand CANcer] initiative that will further promote cancer research in Europe,” says Eric Solary, MD, of Institut Gustave Roussy in Paris, France, the CSA's coordinator.

“The idea is to deliver a bottom-up proposal from the researchers to the politicians to say how we propose to organize the new effort in research in the cancer field. This is the objective of the CSA, and we have 15 months to prepare this blueprint,” he says. About 100 researchers and patient advocates participated in the 4.UNCAN.eu kick-off session timed to coincide with the ESMO 2022 Congress, held in Paris September 9–13.

With €3 million, to be distributed among 29 institutions in 20 countries, 4.UNCAN.eu will help guide the European Union's (EU) Cancer Mission and Beating Cancer Plan, set to spend €4 billion from 2021–2027. European policymakers aim to begin reviewing the CSA's recommendations in November 2023.

4.UNCAN.EU is divided into six work “packages,” each with its own leader:

• Coordination and management, led by Solary

• Identification of cancer research challenges to address future EU priorities and research policies, led by Josep Tabernero, MD, PhD, of the Vall d'Hebron Institute of Oncology in Barcelona, Spain

• Mapping of EU infrastructures and initiatives, road map for a European federated cancer research data hub, led by Michael Boutros, PhD, of the German Cancer Research Center in Heidelberg

• Patients and EU citizens in cancer research, led by Charis Girvalaki, PhD, director of the European Cancer Patient Coalition in Saint-Josse-ten-Noode, Belgium

• Governance, organization, logistics, finances, and sustainability, led by Franco Locatelli, MD, PhD, of Alleanza Contro il Cancro in Rome, Italy

• Inequalities in cancer research—improved science with improved outreach, led by Péter Nagy, PhD, of the National Institute of Oncology in Budapest, Hungary, and René Medema, MD, PhD, of The Netherlands Cancer Institute in Amsterdam

“It's a very comprehensive project that begins with the mapping of research priorities, which will then merge with the efforts from the other work packages,” said Javier Carmona, PhD, scientific strategy officer at Vall d'Hebron Institute of Oncology in Barcelona, Spain. “Rather than focus on specific cancer types, we are focusing on processes.” Six priority research areas, transversal to cancer types, were defined: cancer prevention, early detection, sensitivity and resistance to therapy, pediatric cancer, geriatric cancer, and survivorship.

Boutros leads the work package to map existing research infrastructures that could be incorporated into UNCAN. His team also aims establish a European federated cancer research data hub, which will face the challenge of complying with Europe's data protection and privacy rules under its strict General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).

“European data sharing regulations were not designed for research data, but they are applied to research data,” said Solary.

“The question of how GDPR is currently implemented, and if it presents any hurdles for researchers and practitioners, will be highlighted in our workshops. UNCAN.eu does not have a solution for this yet,” said Boutros. “One of the solutions to be discussed is to have a federated infrastructure where the analysis moves around, but not the data.”

Patient advocates will also participate in 4.UNCAN.EU. “We are trying to ensure that patients and caregivers have a central role and a strong voice within the project,” said Girvalaki. “We believe that no one knows cancer treatment, from diagnosis to survivorship, better than the patients themselves. They can help researchers identify the unmet needs.”

In addition, 4.UNCAN.eu will produce guidance on how to address regional inequalities in cancer research, treatment, and prevention. “The first task will focus on reducing inequalities in cancer research and innovation by benchmarking existing research infrastructures and networks across Europe. We will not try to reinvent the wheel,” said Nagy, explaining that 4.UNCAN.eu will utilize currently existing data, including “data that we collected under the umbrella of the Organisation of European Cancer Institutes in their long-running Accreditation and Designation Programme,” he added.

Nagy's team will also examine regional disparities in innovation. “Technology transfer is where there is the largest gap between the Western and the Central and Eastern European countries,” he noted.

“The objective of the CSA is to deliver a bottom-up proposal from the researchers to the politicians, to say, ‘This is how we propose to organize the new effort in the cancer field,’” said Solary.

“I think that the development of this project will lead the way for years to come for cancer policy in Europe. We have high expectations,” said Girvalaki. –Thiago Carvalho