JTC 2013 Preliminary Announcement Last updated: 12 November 2013 ERA-NET on Translational Cancer Research (TRANSCAN)

Preliminary Announcement The third Joint Transnational Call for Proposals (JTC 2013) will be launched in December 2013.

The ERA-NET on Translational Cancer Research (TRANSCAN) has been established with the ultimate goal of coordinating the research efforts and funding programmes of European countries in translational cancer research.

In this line, TRANSCAN will launch the third Joint Transnational Call for research proposals (JTC) in December 2013.

The topic of the call will be: "Translational research on tertiary prevention in cancer patients"

The following partner funding organisations have agreed to participate in JTC 2013:

Austrian Science Fund (FWF), Austria

Research Foundation - Flanders (FWO) Belgium

French National Cancer Institute (INCa), France

French Foundation for Cancer Research (ARC Foundation) France

Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) Germany

The Chief Scientist Office of the Ministry of Health (CSO-MOH) Israel 

Ministry of Health (MoH), Italy

Latvian Academy of Sciences (LAS) Latvia

Dutch Cancer Society (DCS), Netherlands

The Research Council of Norway (RCN) Norway

Norwegian Cancer Society (NCS), Norway

National Centre for Research and Development (NCBiR) Poland

Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT) Portugal

Slovak Academy of Sciences (SAS), Slovakia

Ministry of Education, Science and Sport (MIZS), Slovenia

The Scientific and Technological Research Council of Turkey (TÜBITAK), Turkey


The call will be published simultaneously by the funding organisations in their respective countries and coordinated centrally by the Joint Call Secretariat (JCS).

Interested researchers and/or research teams are advised to prepare and make the necessary contacts and arrangements towards preparing applications according to the eligibility criteria which are summarised below under “Main criteria for eligibility” and will be detailed when the JTC is published. *

Please note that decision about the participation of FWF and NCBiR is still pending.
 

AIMS OF THE CALL

Cancer control aims to reduce incidence, morbidity and mortality of malignancies and to improve the quality of life in cancer patients. Prevention provides the most costeffective long-term strategies for cancer control, particularly when the related interventions are placed within larger programs oriented towards chronic disease prevention and health promotion.

Therefore, the development of novel, highly specific and increasingly effective tools and strategies for the prevention of cancer represents a major challenge for translational cancer research. In particular, reducing the risk of cancer recurrence and ensuring cancer survivors a good quality of life represent goals of utmost importance for patients, health care providers and health care systems in terms of allocations of public funds. The above mentioned objectives constitute the pillars of the tertiary prevention of cancer.

Research on tertiary prevention can be directly translated into the clinic and provide urgently needed evidence-based guidelines on what cancer patients can do themselves to combat their cancer. An interdisciplinary approach linking health behaviours with biomarkers of recurrence holds the potentials to orient towards individually tailored prevention strategies.

The specific aims and related topics of the call are indicated below.

- Aim 1: Assessment of the impact of health behaviours on clinical outcomes in cancer patients ! Development of tools to assess health behaviours and validation against biomarkers among cancer patients and survivors, focusing on key health behaviours linked to prognosis. ! Observational studies evaluating health behaviours in relation to clinical cancer outcomes. ! Observational studies focused on the characterization of mechanisms linking health behaviours to cancer progression and prognosis. ! Clinical trials (not lasting longer than 3 years) testing the effects of health behaviours modifications on cancer-related clinical outcomes and biomarkers.
- Aim 2: Optimisation of the quality of life of cancer patients ! Observational studies aimed at identifying and/or validating the molecular mechanisms of the long-term side effects of cancer treatments (e.g. cardiotoxicity, infertility, pain). ! Phase I-II clinical trials aimed at reducing disabilities or restoring functionalities caused or lost due to a previous cancer or anticancer treatment, by means of palliative and supportive therapies and dose de-escalation strategy. ! Observational studies testing the influence of co-morbidities on cancer patients’ clinical outcomes, including survival.
- Aim 3: Prevention of recurrence and second cancer ! Observational studies aimed at identifying and/or validating the genetic, molecular and cellular mechanisms of the metastatic process in patients without evidence of disease. ! Observational studies aimed at identifying and/or validating biomarkers of tumour recurrence in cancer patients without evidence of disease, including: i) markers expressed in tumour or tumour-surrounding cells, ii) systemic (including immunological) markers. ! Observational studies aimed at assessing the effectiveness of innovative, costeffective and with marginal toxicity interventions designed to prevent tumour recurrence and/or second cancer. ! Early phase clinical studies aimed at assessing the effectiveness of innovative and low toxicity interventions designed to prevent tumour recurrence and/or second cancer. Eligible patients will be cancer patients with no evidence of disease on study entry (after completion of therapy), but with a high risk of disease recurrence and/or second cancer and for whom preventive interventions of proven efficacy do not currently exist. These interventional approaches should aim at restoring or potentiating the natural patients’ defences against tumour recurrence and/or second cancer, giving high priority to cost-effective approaches potentially capable of reducing the risk while minimizing undesirable side effects. Within these studies the identification of molecular/cellular biomarkers of efficacy will be favourably considered. Applicants will have the opportunity to add an additional part for capacity building and training activities (with an associated separate budget). These specific activities should be coherent with the objectives of the research project, and aimed to strengthening the ability of participating team(s) to perform the work detailed in the project plan in addition to the long-term improvement of its (their) overall scientific capacity.

MAIN CRITERIA FOR ELIGIBILITY

Each proposal must involve a minimum of 3 (three) and a maximum of 7 (seven) research groups from at least 3 (three) different countries participating in the call. There must not be more than 2 (two) research groups from one country.

The majority of research groups in a consortium as well as the coordinator of a consortium must be from JTC-2013 funding partners. Up to 1 (one) research group from a country not participating in this call may be included in a consortium, if this group is able to secure its own funding. Research consortia must involve both scientific research team(s) (basic or pre-clinical) and clinical team(s).

In addition, a consortium may also involve team(s) with other expertise. Since funding to successful applications is the responsibility of the national funding organisations which are partners in the JTC, the applicants must comply with the rules, regulations and eligibility criteria of their respective funding organisations. Therefore, the applicants should check these rules with the contact persons of their corresponding national/regional funding organisations listed below in Annex 1 of this preliminary announcement.

For further information, please visit the TRANSCAN website: http://www.transcanfp7.eu/transcan/mod/resource/view.php?id=85