Principal investigator at the Institute of Oncology Ljubljana: Maja Primic Žakelj PhD
Cancer survival inequalities documented by EUROCARE need to be explained by Population Based Cancer Registry (CR) High Resolution (HR) studies that capture innovation in cancer diagnosis and treatment and investigate whether co-morbidities influence outcome and treatments.
Main Aim: Study influence of patterns of care and co-morbidities on clinical outcomes in breast (BC) and colorectal cancer (CC) patients diagnosed in 2011-14 in some EU areas.
Specific aims: Investigate influence of co-morbidity on treatment choice, adhesion to clinical guidelines, relapse and disease-free survival and their association with BC and CC prognostic characteristics.
Additional aim: CRs possibility to access biobanks in their areas will be piloted through the validation of a plasma derived microRNA signature.
Design & Work Plan: Each CR will recruit a sample of 500 cases per tumour site, and will abstract information on stage, diagnostic exams, morphology and bio-molecular subtype, treatment, co-morbidity and follow-up, from clinical records. Data will be centralized and multivariable survival analyses will be carried out. In addition, a plasma-based microRNA signature predictive of distant metastatization in early stage BC will be validated using biobanks in partners areas. The project will be coordinated by the Fondazione IRCCS Istituto Nazionale dei Tumori and organised in 4 WPs. The research consortium includes CRs with past experience in HR studies, 1 basic research and 2 clinical teams, epidemiologists, public health experts.