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Cancer usually gestate silently, without pomp or noise. All it takes is for tiny cells to get out of control and start multiplying uncontrollably to cause one of the most devastating diseases on the planet to progress. This disease, which kills 10 million people every year, has already become the leading cause of death in the world and its incidence continues to grow. Europe, with less than 10% of the world's population, accounts for a quarter of all cancer cases worldwide and the European Commission has set out to neutralize it with a project, Mission Cancer, which aims to "save more than three million lives" by 2030.
The challenge is ambitious and there are thousands of minds working on it. Three of them are the oncologist Josep Tabernero, the researcher Anna Bigas and the French scientist Eric Solary, who coordinate the group of experts appointed by the Commission to set the strategic lines in cancer research for this decade in order to improve the understanding of cancer. A few days ago they met in Barcelona with several hundred European specialists to begin to set priorities. "The idea of the cancer mission is to get a new level of understanding of cancer. It is a complex disease, with many factors involved, and the idea is to reach a new level of understanding of the mechanisms of the disease," explains Solary, a scientist at France's National Institute for Health and Medical Research and coordinator of Understand Cancer (UnCan), a European initiative aimed at advancing knowledge of the disease.
More informationMalignant cells that break away from cancer and cause metastatic deaths have been discoveredWe will have to
prioritize, warns Tabernero, director of the Vall d'Hebron Institute of Oncology (VHIO). The oncologist admits that, although all oncology research is important, they will have to...