£25m challenge targets unanswered questions in upper gastrointestinal cancers
Scientists worldwide are being invited to tackle two major unanswered questions about stomach and oesophageal cancers through a new £25 million Cancer Grand Challenges initiative.
Developed by the Torrey Coast Foundation and Cancer Research UK, the five-year initiative will investigate why these cancers are much more common in some parts of the world than others, and whether the earliest changes leading to cancer can be prevented or reversed.
One challenge will examine the biological changes that cause healthy cells to develop into stomach or oesophageal adenocarcinoma, and whether understanding these processes could allow tissue to be restored or cancer prevented before it develops.
The second will investigate the mechanisms behind striking geographical differences in upper gastrointestinal cancer rates, including stomach cancer and the two main types of oesophageal cancer.
These cancers are often diagnosed only after they have spread, making them more difficult to treat. The initiative aims to bring together international teams, including researchers from regions where the diseases are particularly common, to combine expertise, data and patient samples.
The challenges were developed through an expert think tank chaired by Professor Charles Swanton of the Francis Crick Institute and Chair of the Cancer Grand Challenges Scientific Committee.
Up to £25 million ($34 million) will be awarded to the successful team over five years. The initiative forms part of a refreshed Cancer Grand Challenges funding model, which allows the programme and its partners to respond to scientific opportunities outside its usual two-year challenge cycle.
The scheme was founded in 2020 and is estimated to have provided US$624m to projects across the world. Pic: National Cancer Institute
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