Regarding our cancer initiating stem cell work we expect to identify novel stem cell markers. The improved identification of such cancer stem cells will pave the way for completely new therapeutic strategies and improve our understanding of first steps during tumourigenesis. Furthermore, work with our animal models will allow us to determine cellular changes in precancerous lesions and in very early tumour stages, which are hard to obtain from human samples in necessary quantities. Altogether, the GENINCA consortium will screen 2000 pre-cancerous lesions for genomic instability patterns. Therefore, final results will include new insights into steps involved in the transformation of a normal to a malignant cell.
In addition final results for colon cancer will include detailed information about the role of the immune response for tumourigenesis and prognosis, a detailed map of genomic changes and associated consequences on the transcriptional and proteome level. This may again result in new treatment options.
The overall aim of the GENINCA consortium is to contribute to the worldwide fight against cancer through our concerted effort to study and develop novel diagnostic and therapeutic strategies for two types of gastrointestinal tumours which are big killers: colorectal and liver cancer. The results we have already obtained suggest that we will generate novel insights into these two tumour entities.
We anticipate that the results can be translated into the clinic. Humans suffering from these tumour entities will benefit either because prognosis can be better estimated or, more importantly, because novel treatment options are available. Furthermore, our results can contribute to developing preventive means. Thus, the socio-economic impact of our work is potentially significant as the outcome in two highly relevant tumour entities may change.