The objective of this call for proposals is to support translational research projects dedicated to understanding the specificities of cancer biology in elderly patients. The selected projects, co-sponsored by a biological leader and a clinical leader, may be supported for a maximum of €1,000,000 to €3,000,000 over a period of 6 years.
Summary of the selected project: The geriatric assessment allows oncologists to recognize three groups of elderly cancer patients (healthy, vulnerable or frail) to better identify risks before initiating treatment, but too few teams use it. However, this assessment is time-consuming for medical staff and patients and needs to be simplified without losing its relevance. New simpler tools used for research exist but they do not allow the assessment of patients’ physiological reserves, whereas oncologists need quantitative tools to better assess the impact of age on patients’ condition and the risk of complications during treatment. The last decade has shown the potential of new discoveries in the biology of aging (epigenetics, telomeres, cellular senescence or immunosenescence) to better assess biological age. These tools open up new opportunities and must be evaluated for their possible integration, alone or in combination, in the management of patients.
Pierre Soubeyran, clinical coordinator, Bordeaux Institute of Oncology (BRIC)
Serge Adnot, biological coordinator, IMRB – Geneviève Derumeaux’s team and associated team
Eric Gilson, Institute of Research on Cancer and Aging, University of Nice Atipolis, associated team
Victor Appay, Immunologie Conceptuelle Experimentale Translationnelle Unité CNRS-UMR5164, Bordeaux, associated team
Florence Canouï-Poitrine and Christos Chouaid, IMRB – Sylvie Bastuji-Garin’s team, associated team
Paul Hofman, Laboratory of Clinical and Experimental Pathology, University of Nice Atipolis, associated team.
