EUROPEAN COMMISSION
PRESS RELEASE
Brussels, 27 October 2014
EU breast cancer research targets personalised
treatment
Caption: The ASSURE project tailors breast cancer screening – hematoxylin and eosin marked breast tissue
containing invasive ductal carcinoma. Copyright: ©VPH-PRISM
Today, in most developed countries, one in eight women will likely develop breast cancer
during their lifetime. Boosting support for early detection, more effective treatments and
better palliative care has been the focus of Breast Cancer Awareness Month this October.
One promising avenue which a number of EU-funded research projects are taking is
personalised medicine – adjusting treatment to a patient’s specific circumstances and
condition.
From lab to clinic
The EU project TRANSBIG has been linking laboratory work more closely to treatment with
'translational' research, says scientific director Fatima Cardoso of the Champalimaud
Clinical Center in Lisbon, Portugal.: “TRANSBIG contributed to tackling the fragmentation
in breast cancer translational research by strengthening relationships between leading
European researchers in the field. It has also led to the successful launch of what is
viewed as one of Europe’s most innovative breast cancer trials of the past decade.”
The results of the trial, known as MINDACT, will be available in 2015. The trial is
investigating whether genomic analysis can help physicians make better decisions on
whether a patient can avoid chemotherapy after breast cancer surgery.
IP/14/1198
Clinical trials have shown that chemotherapy, while effective, can also lead to secondary
cancers, damage to the heart, early menopause and reduced cognitive functions. And a
substantial proportion of patients with early-stage breast cancer are thought to be overtreated, says Cardoso. MINDACT may avoid chemotherapy in 10 – 20 % of patients.
MINDACT has enrolled more than 6 600 women in 9 countries for the research, managed
by the European Organisation for the Research and Treatment of Cancer (EORTC), and
developed in collaboration with the Breast International Group (BIG), coordinator of
TRANSBIG.
“Hundreds of thousands of women can benefit from translating research breakthroughs to
life-saving treatments for breast cancer,” said EU Research, Innovation and Science
Commissioner Máire Geoghegan-Quinn. “Cancer research has been a priority for EU
research funding. Some €1.4 billion was devoted to translational cancer research from
2007 to 2013. We will continue that focus under Horizon 2020, speeding up the transfer of
basic knowledge to early diagnosis, preventive and therapeutic approaches.”
Other EU research projects on breast cancer include EPIC, which studied how changes to a
person’s diet could potentially prevent breast cancer. The CareMore and CTCTRAP projects
are focusing on circulating tumour cells and DNA in a patient’s blood to guide early
diagnosis and treatments for women with metastatic breast cancer. Meanwhile ASSURE is
looking at ways to tailor breast cancer screening to an individual’s needs, and is
developing alternatives to mammography – unsuitable for cancer detection in women with
dense breasts.
Another project, RATHER, is identifying novel treatments, along with personalised
diagnostic techniques, for women with triple-negative and invasive lobular breast cancer.
These are difficult-to-treat cancers for which no targeted therapies are currently available.
Finally, the MERIT project is developing a way to treat triple-negative breast cancers with
personalised RNA vaccines that are unique to each patient.
Background
Breast cancer remains the second most common cancer in the world, and kills more
women than any other cancer type. In the EU, a record 364 449 women found out they
had the disease in 2012. The EU invested €160 million in breast cancer research from
2007 to 2013 and that support will continue through Horizon 2020, the new research and
innovation programme for 2014-2020.
On 1 January 2014, the European Union launched a new research and innovation funding
programme called Horizon 2020. Over the next seven years almost €80 billion will be
invested in research and innovation projects to support Europe’s economic
competitiveness and extend the frontiers of human knowledge. The EU research budget is
focused mainly on improving everyday life in areas like health, the environment,
transport, food and energy.
For more information
BIG and TRANSBIG: www.BIGagainstbreastcancer.org
EPIC: http://epic.iarc.fr/
CareMore: http://www.caremorectc.eu/
CTCTRAP: http://www.utwente.nl/tnw/ctctrap/
ASSURE: http://www.assure-project.eu/
RATHER: http://www.ratherproject.com/
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MERIT: http://merit-consortium.eu/
Horizon 2020 website: http://ec.europa.eu/programmes/horizon2020/
Contacts :
Michael Jennings (+32 2 296 33 88) Twitter: @ECSpokesScience
Monika Wcislo (+32 2 298 65 95)
For the public: Europe Direct by phone 00 800 6 7 8 9 10 11 or by e-mail
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