Professor Dr Matthias Fischer (Head of Experimental Paediatric Oncology, University Hospital Cologne) and Professor Dr Martin Peifer (Institute for Translational Genomics, Faculty of Medicine) have jointly been awarded a Synergy Grant from the European Research Council (ERC). Synergy Grants provide funding of up to 10 million euros over a period of six years to excellent researchers working together as a team on a project. The teams of Fischer and Peifer have been awarded the research prize for their EVO-DETECT project, which investigates how neuroblastoma – one of the most common fatal cancers among children in Europe – can be detected via blood tests even before a clinical diagnosis is made. Professor Dr Joybrato Mukherjee, Rector of the University of Cologne, says: “My warmest congratulations to both scientists on this joint success. The European Research Council award recognizes the excellence of their work and the pressing social relevance of the research they are conducting into aggressive childhood cancers. By developing a blood test for early detection of neuroblastoma, they are making a crucial contribution to improving the chances of cure.”
Cancer is one of the most common causes of death amongst children in Europe. Neuroblastoma, a tumour of the peripheral nervous system, occurs in early childhood and presents with a broad spectrum of clinical courses. Whilst some tumours regress spontaneously without any treatment, other neuroblastomas have an extremely poor prognosis despite the most intensive treatment. Despite rigorous efforts, the chances of recovery for patients with high-risk neuroblastoma have not improved in recent years.
Research findings by the EVO-DETECT team suggest that neuroblastomas already originate in the foetal stage and gradually develop into highly malignant tumours. This is where the funded research project comes in: the central hypothesis is that, by gaining a detailed understanding of the (epi-)genetic evolution of the tumour, neuroblastomas can be detected via blood tests long before clinical diagnosis. An early diagnosis, before the tumour undergoes its final transformation into a highly aggressive tumour, could significantly improve treatment options and substantially increase patients’ chances of cure. Unlike conventional cancer screening programmes, EVO-DETECT aims to detect specific (epi-)genetic changes – which occur at an early stage in tumour development – in minute quantities in the blood, thereby identifying neuroblastomas before they transform into highly aggressive tumours.
To test this hypothesis and develop a diagnostic blood test, researchers from the University of Cologne (Professor Dr Matthias Fischer, Professor Dr Martin Peifer), the German Cancer Research Centre in Heidelberg (PD Dr Frank Westermann) and the Institute Curie, Paris (Dr Gudrun Schleiermacher) have joined forces to investigate in detail the genetic and epigenetic evolution from the onset of the disease to fully transformed high-risk neuroblastoma. The pathogenetic relevance of molecular changes identified within the project will be validated experimentally. Findings on tumour evolution will be used to develop a blood test capable of detecting key molecular changes. The potential of the blood test for early detection of neuroblastoma will be assessed using computer models, experimental systems, and blood samples from patients. The long-term objective is to carry out nationwide screening of infants and young children using the blood test in order to detect neuroblastoma at an early stage and thereby improve the chances of cure for these young patients. Furthermore, the strategy pursued in the project could serve as a proof of concept for the development of similar early-detection tests in other types of cancer.