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BEHANDLING-God og treffsikker diagnostikk, behandling og rehabilitering

Improving treatment for women with endometrial cancer

Alternative title: Forbedret behandling for kvinner med livmorkreft

Awarded: NOK 12.3 mill.

Endometriale cancer is one of the most common forms of cancer affecting women. The incidence is increasing, partly due to increased life expectancy, but endometrial cancer is also strongly associated with obesity. Although the prognosis for most patients is good, there are few treatment options if the cancer has spread and few patients will then be cured. Improving the treatment of endometrial cancer requires both more knowledge regarding how the disease develops as well as better diagnostic tools. IN this project we investigated both blood and tissue samples to identify biomarkers that can be used for better diagnostics. In particular, for improved treatment of metastatic endometrial cancer, both the primary tumor and the metastases have been explored to find underlying mechanisms for spread of disease that can be used to develop more targeted therapy. To gain knowledge on what diagnostic imaging parameters can tell us about the tumor features, imaging data from PET-CT and MRI have been combined with biological data . A strong focus of the project has been on quality of life for endometrial cancer patients after treatment to investigate the long-term effects of treatment. The project has also emphasized user involvement, and aimed at increasing awareness of risk factors in the population.

Forskning på kvinners helse og speilet sykdommer som rammer kvinner har vært mindre i fokus. Livmorkreft er en kreftform som rammer spesielt eldre kvinner og har tradisjonelt vært en understudert sykdom. Kvinner som får livmorkreft der svulsten har spredd seg til andre organer har svært dårlig prognose og det finnes ingen effektiv behandling. For å bedre overlevelse for pasienter med denne sykdommen er det svært viktig å forbedre både diagnostikk og behandling. Dette prosjektet har: -identifisert hormonelle faktorer i blodprøver fra pasienter som kan ha prognostisk effekt -forbedret bileddiagnostiske verktøy som benyttes før behandling -identifisert faktorer som påvirker pasientens livskvalitet etter behandling og vist at en positiv effekt kan oppnås dersom det er mulig å redusere bruk av kjemoterapi -gjennomført en større spørreundersøkelse i befolkningen og avdekket kunnskapshull i befolkningen når det gjelder gynekologisk kreft

Compared to other cancer types, little research has been focusing on understanding the biology of endometrial cancer. Endometrial cancer patients are often older, and the disease is strongly linked to obesity. The incidence of endometrial cancer is rapidly increasing. Combined with an increasingly older population, it is imperative that we gain a greater understanding of all aspects of endometrial cancer if we are to limit its effect on scarce health care resources and, also, prevent this cancer from significantly impacting future generations of women. This grant proposal focuses on better diagnostics for endometrial cancer through identification of biomarkers in serum samples, sequencing of relevant samples to unravel molecular driver mechanisms and potential biomarkers for endocrine-related or metastatic disease and integration of imaging data with molecular and biological data to gain knowledge on potential diagnostic imaging parameters. We aim at future improved treatment through improved understanding of cancer biology and development of mastery strategies through increased quality of life awareness. Through increased user involvement in the present project we also aim to raise awareness of risk factors in the public, an important factor for prevention of disease in the future

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Funding scheme:

BEHANDLING-God og treffsikker diagnostikk, behandling og rehabilitering