{"id":8696,"date":"2025-02-28T11:03:54","date_gmt":"2025-02-28T10:03:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.hartwigmedicalfoundation.nl\/?p=8696"},"modified":"2025-02-28T11:03:55","modified_gmt":"2025-02-28T10:03:55","slug":"to-study-rare-cancers-collaboration-is-key","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.hartwigmedicalfoundation.nl\/en\/to-study-rare-cancers-collaboration-is-key\/","title":{"rendered":"To study rare cancers, collaboration is key\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>In honor of Rare Disease Day on February 28th, we spoke with Professor Stefan Fr\u00f6hling about his research on rare cancers and his collaboration with Hartwig Medical Foundation. Recently, Hartwig received permission to integrate Fr\u00f6hling\u2019s rare cancer data into their database. He finds it \u201cparticularly frustrating\u201d that there are so few treatment options while rare cancers often affect younger people and expects this collaboration to be mutually beneficial.<\/strong>&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em>By Laura Nederveen<\/em> &nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Rare cancers are actually not that rare. Together, they account for <a href=\"https:\/\/www.esmo.org\/policy\/rare-cancers-working-group\/what-are-rare-cancers\/definition-of-rare-cancers\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">nearly 25 percent<\/a> of all cancer cases. A cancer is considered rare if fewer than six new cases occur per 100,000 persons each year. Even within common cancers, such as lung cancer, we nowadays know there are many molecular subtypes, and some of these subtypes can also be considered rare. Due to their rarity, they are less well known, and consequently, fewer treatment options are available.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">This deeply motivates Professor Stefan Fr\u00f6hling to study rare cancers. Fr\u00f6hling is Head of the Division of Translational Medical Oncology at the German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ) and Managing Director at the National Center for Tumor Diseases (NCT) in Heidelberg. \u201cRare cancers receive significantly less research attention compared to common cancers,\u201d he explains. \u201cConsequently, these diseases are less well understood, leading to fewer available treatments, and the prognosis is often considerably worse. Many sarcomas, for example, affect younger people, which makes it particularly frustrating when there are so few treatment options and so many years of life are lost. I believe there is a high unmet medical need.&#8221;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-pullquote\"><blockquote><p>Stefan Fr\u00f6hling<\/p><cite>\u201cWhat Hartwig does is very advanced. It is really a mutual benefit, and the \u2018positive chemistry\u2019 in our interactions, are a big plus.\u201d<\/cite><\/blockquote><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Thanks to advancements in genomics over the past few decades, rare forms of cancer can now be diagnosed with greater precision. But isn\u2019t studying rare diseases very difficult because they are\u2026 rare? Fr\u00f6hling agrees: \u201cHeidelberg has a high-volume cancer center, and much of our research focuses on rare cancers, but locally, we would not generate enough data to study rare diseases. Therefore, we collaborate in several national consortia, such as the German Cancer Consortium (DKTK) and the NCT with its six sites, representing 11 comprehensive cancer centers, as well as a Cancer Core Europe, a consortium involving centers in seven countries, including the Netherlands Cancer Institute (NKI). And now we are starting up this bilateral collaboration with Hartwig Medical Foundation.\u201d&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cHartwig has built a tumor classifier based on their own data, but their program is more focused on common tumor entities,\u201d Fr\u00f6hling explains. \u201cSince they would like to increase the number of cases and integrate rare cancers, they asked us to use our data and combine the databases. This permission was recently granted by DKTK and NCT, so we have the green light to continue this collaboration.\u201d&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-pullquote\"><blockquote><p>Stefan Fr\u00f6hling<\/p><cite>&#8220;One advantage of studying rare cancers is that there are often more opportunities to administer experimental treatments&#8221;<\/cite><\/blockquote><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Conversely, Fr\u00f6hling and his team are making use of the bioinformatic pipeline developed by Hartwig to analyze genetic tumor data. Fr\u00f6hling: \u201cWhat Hartwig does is very advanced. It is really a mutual benefit, and the \u2018positive chemistry\u2019 in our interactions, are a big plus. \u201dPreviously, his team has developed their own bioinformatic solutions&#8221;, Fr\u00f6hling says. \u201cIt is good what we were doing, but at certain points, Hartwig\u2019s solutions are very attractive. So our bioinformaticians have begun to implement what Hartwig has developed.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">While using their analysis pipeline, Fr\u00f6hling has not yet incorporated Hartwig\u2019s data. \u201cBut that would be a logical next step,\u201d he says. \u201cHartwig is combining our data into a huge data pool to determine whether findings from common cancers also apply to rare ones. We could do the same: if our analysis of rare cancers raises a question, we could use this database to see if it is also relevant to more common types. That would be very helpful. I think having a large joint dataset will open up many opportunities for scientific questions and also clinical trials.\u201d&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-pullquote\"><blockquote><p>Stefan Fr\u00f6hling<\/p><cite>&#8220;In the end, research on rare cancers will help to treat common cancers better, and vice versa. Integrating the two databases will help both fields forward.&#8221;<\/cite><\/blockquote><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Rare and common cancer research are closely connected. In some cases, a very rare cancer may turn out to resemble a more common one. Fr\u00f6hling: \u201cSometimes, when we study rare cancers, we discover features that have already been observed in common cancers, which can even have clinical implications. For example, if we analyze 30 cases of a rare cancer and find a molecular characteristic typically seen in breast or gastric cancer, it is often unexpected. But because we conducted a comprehensive analysis, we spotted it. In many cases, this allowed us to repurpose, for example, an existing breast cancer drug to treat patients with the rare cancer.\u201d&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">One advantage of studying rare cancers is that there are often more opportunities to administer experimental treatments. \u201cIn most cases, you cannot simply deviate from standard procedures,\u201d Fr\u00f6hling explains, \u201cyou have to go through several approved treatments before trying something experimental. But for patients with rare cancers, where no standard treatment exists, there is more flexibility to explore new options.\u201d&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In the end, research on rare cancers will help to treat common cancers better, and vice versa. Integrating the two databases will help both fields forward. Fr\u00f6hling conludes: \u201cI anticipate that this collaboration will improve our understanding of rare and common cancers, including insights that will have tangible clinical implications and, thus, improve outcomes for patients.\u201d&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em>On 21-22 March 2025 Hartwig Medical Foundation is organizing the first <\/em><a href=\"https:\/\/www.ccg2025.eu\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\"><em>Clinical Cancer Genomics Conference<\/em><\/a><em>. Professor Fr\u00f6hling is one of the co-organizers of this international congress, on behalf of <\/em><a href=\"https:\/\/www.dkfz.de\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\"><em>DKFZ<\/em><\/a><em> and <\/em><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nct-heidelberg.de\/en\/index.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\"><em>NCT<\/em><\/a><em>.&nbsp;<\/em>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>In honor of Rare Disease Day on February 28th, we spoke with Professor Stefan Fr\u00f6hling about his research on rare &hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":8693,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[91,75,93,85,76,73,82],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8696","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-biomarker","category-hartwig-medical-database","category-hartwig-medical-foundation","category-learning-healthcare-system","category-molecular-diagnostics","category-personalized-treatment","category-research"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.9 - 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