Personalized therapies, chosen based on the ‘anti-cancer memory’ of which each patient’s immune system is capable. And early diagnosis, with ad hoc screening and the help of artificial intelligence. The newly created Lung Platform financed by the Umberto Veronesi Ets Foundation will move along these two lines. Developed in collaboration with the Irccs San Raffaele hospital in Milan (coordinating centre) and the University of Chicago, the research platform will last five years and have one objective: to improve the care path for lung cancer patients.
In Italy it is the most frequent cancer after breast and colorectal cancer; in 2023, 44 thousand new cases were diagnosed. Cigarette smoking is the main risk factor: 80% of lung cancer diagnoses concern smokers, recall the Veronesi and San Raffaele Foundation on the eve of World No Tobacco Day. Despite the progress made in treatment, lung cancer represents one of the main causes of cancer-related death. In our country it is first for mortality in men and second in women, and overall every year there are 35,700 deaths. In light of these numbers, the Veronesi Foundation has decided to develop a research platform to ‘face head-on’ the numerous challenges that still remain to be faced in the path of diagnosis and treatment of the disease.
The project “arises from the increasingly pressing need to change the history of this disease”, declares Chiara Tonelli, president of the Scientific Committee of the Veronesi Foundation, professor emeritus of Genetics at the State University of Milan and president of the Italian Federation of Life Sciences (Fisv ). “To do this we decided to avail ourselves of the collaboration of prestigious institutions that for years have represented excellence in research against lung cancer. The platform once again demonstrates the importance of the Foundation investing in research with a long-term project “, points out. “The Veronesi Foundation – adds Monica Ramaioli, general director of the institution – has been supporting innovative scientific research for years, which sees laboratory research supported and projected towards the prevention and treatment of tumors. Financing this innovative platform fully reflects the selection criteria that characterize the Foundation, where high innovation and strong translational impact increase the possibilities of finding new effective solutions for patients”.
The first project to start within the Lung Platform will be Neo-memory, which aims to identify biomarkers useful for choosing the best therapy for each patient. “Despite lung cancer being the leading cause of death from cancer, over the years, thanks to research, the situation is changing. Two strategies have been added to traditional chemotherapy, immunotherapy and target therapies, capable of significantly improving the chances of treatment. One of the main challenges in the treatment of lung cancer is the identification of those patients who will best respond to the immunotherapy approach. This treatment strategy, which involves the use of drugs capable of reactivating the immune system’s response against the tumor, it can be used both when the disease is metastatic and to avoid the risk of recurrence in locally advanced disease.” It is in this context, he describes a note, that Neo-memory was born.
Carried out in collaboration with San Raffaele in Milan and the University of Chicago, the project involves the study of immunological memory and some lymphoid formations (cells, tissues and organs that form the immune system) in patients with lung cancer. “The purpose of Neo-memory – explains Roberto Ferrara, researcher at the Vita-Salute San Raffaele University and medical oncologist at San Raffaele – is the characterization of new markers capable of early identifying patients who will have a response and long survival thanks to the neoadjuvant systemic treatment followed by surgical removal of the tumor. The results of this project could provide important indications to understand which patients develop anti-tumor immunological memory”.
“But choosing the best therapies based on the immunological characteristics of the patient – the experts point out – is not the only way to deal with lung cancer. As with any type of neoplasm, the earlier the diagnosis is reached, the greater the chances of a cure “. The first imperative, therefore, remains early diagnosis.
“Unfortunately – observes Fabio Ciceri, oncohematologist and director of the Comprehensive Cancer Center of the Irccs San Raffaele hospital – lung cancer is often diagnosed in an already advanced stage, when the disease begins to show symptoms. Starting from the assumption that these tumors are caused in most cases from cigarette smoking, over the years pilot screening projects have been developed in heavy smokers and ex-smokers”. Thanks to these programs, “we were able to identify the disease at an early stage. In 80% of cases the tumors were localized and therefore operable. Not only that. Thanks to the robotic surgery approach, we allowed rapid functional recovery of the patient”.
Strengthened by these results, in the coming months Fondazione Veronesi will develop new projects to further improve the effectiveness of screening in heavy smokers through a detailed analysis of images from patients’ CT scans. “The ultimate aim – explains Ciceri – is to create an integrated prevention tool through the automatic identification of nodules thanks to artificial intelligence and the definition of the individual risk profile for lung cancer and other important habit-related pathologies smoking, such as chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and cardiovascular diseases, the development of this platform in lung cancer – concludes the specialist – represents a model that will soon be transferred to other forms of cancer, as part of our early detection and screening programme. Cancer Center”.
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