Cancer Core Europe: A translational research infrastructure for a European mission on cancer

Abstract

Cancer Core Europe is a European legal alliance consisting of seven leading cancer centres – most of them Comprehensive Cancer Centres ( CCC s) – with a single portal system to engage in various research projects with partners. Cancer Core Europe was established to create a sustainable, high‐level, shared research infrastructure platform hosting research collaborations and task forces (data sharing, clinical trials, genomics, immunotherapy, imaging, education and training, and legal and ethical issues), with a controlled expansion agenda. Translational cancer research covers the cancer research continuum from basic to preclinical to early clinical, late clinical, and outcomes research. Basic–preclinical research serves as the ‘engine’ for early clinical research by bridging the early translational research gap and is the primary and current focus of the consortium as exemplified by the launching of the Basket of Baskets trial, Europe's largest precision cancer medicine trial. Inspired by the creation of Cancer Core Europe, the prevention community established Cancer Prevention Europe, a consortium of ten cancer prevention centres aimed at supporting the complete prevention research continuum. Presently, Cancer Core Europe and Cancer Prevention Europe are integrating therapeutics and prevention strategies to address in partnership the widening cancer problem. By providing innovative approaches for cancer research, links to healthcare systems, development of quality‐assured multidisciplinary cancer care, and assessment of long‐term outcomes, the virtual infrastructure will serve as a hub to connect and interact with other centres across Europe and beyond. Together, Cancer Core Europe and Cancer Prevention Europe are prepared to function as a central engine to tackle, in collaboration with various partners, a potential ‘mission on cancer’ addressing the cancer burden.

Caring for patients with cancer in the COVID-19 era

“…Since 2014, the Netherlands Cancer Institute, Karolinska Institute, Institute Gustave Roussy, Cambridge Cancer Center, Istituto Nazionale dei Tumori di Milano, German Cancer Research Center and Vall d'Hebron Institute of Oncology have been working closely together in a legal entity called 'Cancer Core Europe' (CCE) in order to maximize coherence and critical mass in cancer research [2][3][4] . Together, the consortium represents ~60,000 patients with newly diagnosed cancer, delivers ~300,000 treatment courses and sees ~1,200,000 consultations annually.…”

Quality‐assured research environments for translational cancer research

“…Examples of such initiatives are slowly becoming apparent and deserve further encouragement. Cancer Core Europe, a legal entity of a small number of comprehensive cancer centres in Europe, is such an early‐day example (Calvo et al ., Eggermont et al ., ). A similar collaborative initiative has been taken in the area of prevention: Cancer Prevention Europe (Forman et al ., ).…”

Towards a mission‐oriented approach to cancer in Europe: an unmet need in cancer research policy

“…Cancer Core Europe is open to the addition of new centres; in the first instance, core centres will link with other CCCs and centres, with the aim of expanding contacts to all EU member states. In time, there must be at least one CCC in every EU member state to ensure that they link to national centres and reach out and interact closely with clinical centres concerning quality of care, innovation and research collaboration (see also articles by Eggermont et al, 2019, andby Berns, 2019).…”