Microbiome for early cancer prediction before the onset of disease

Expected Outcome: Proposals under this topic should aim to deliver results that are directed and tailored towards and contribute to all of the following expected outcomes: Healthy people and in particular people at risk will benefit from microbiome tests and programmes that can discover and predict their transition to cancer before the onset of disease. People will have a better understanding of risks and will be enabled to address risks early by following treatments or adapting their lifestyles, including nutrition and other interventions. Physicians will be able to start cancer treatments earlier with a higher success rate. Policy makers and authorities will be enabled to develop and implement advanced and strategic programmes addressing cancer prevention. Scope: This topic will contribute to the achievement of the EU Cancer Mission’s objective to achieve better cancer prevention and early detection. The focus is on the development of validated microbiome tools, an assessment of predispositions, the comparison with other predictive tools and risk modelling approaches. Cancer often develops over several years and progresses silently before symptoms appear. Some cancers are diagnosed at a very late stage, when the disease is nearly incurable. Early and sensitive biomarkers are beneficial for preventive strategies and the survival of patients especially when tests are minimally invasive and simple to perform. The human microbiome is correlated with this process of oncogenesis and tumour progression. The deterioration of the human microbiome towards dysbiosis should be monitored and used as an early predictive biomarker. The potential of the microbiome should be exploited to deliver important contributions to cancer prevention and early detection strategies before the onset of disease especially for high-risk patients. Prevention of cancer through early detection is most efficient in fighting cancer and saving lives. Large microbiome biobanks and registries exist at national and international levels to collect and store microbial samples with the intention to analyse and share microbiome data for research and healthcare. The One Million Microbiomes from Human Project has been launched by several countries to build the largest human microbiome high quality database and to provide advanced life science tools for future healthcare. The intention is to accelerate the translation of microbiome knowledge to predict and prevent cancer earlier, before the onset of disease, through the development of personalised approaches and tools. The promise of these tools is …