Gastric Cancer
Gastric cancer is the third leading cause of cancer death in both sexes worldwide. Globally, the disease is responsible for 783.000 deaths per year. Despite attempts to improve treatment in recent decades, no strategies have improved prognosis in locally advanced gastric cancer. The survival rate for patients with advanced gastric cancer is only about 12 months.
Personalised Medicine
An increase in survival rate for patients with gastric cancer is expected to come from a personalized medicine approach. So far, gastric cancer treatments such as surgery, radiotherapy, chemotherapy or immunotherapy were chosen based on the type of the tumour. While these treatments might work for one person, this does not mean they will work for another, despite the possible side effects. Through personalized medicine, gastric cancer treatment is chosen based on who the patient is, instead of the type of tumour, leading to an improved prognosis of gastric cancer.
How will LEGACy help?
LEGACy will use a personalized approach that will improve gastric cancer treatment by improving the knowledge of which treatment will work best for each patient. Additionally, the project will identify and educate those with higher risk of getting gastric cancer earlier and improve the early detection of gastric cancer when the prognosis is still higher.