Project description DEENESFRITPL The role of screening and early treatment in bone marrow malignancies Multiple myeloma (MM), a rare form of cancer that accounts for 1 % of all cancers and 2 % of all cancer deaths, is difficult to diagnose and impossible to treat. The vast majority of MM cases are diagnosed when already at the stage of full-blown malignancy and therefore do not benefit from the impact of early treatment. The EU-funded Edit-SMM project will study patients with MM to make new discoveries on the biology and evolution of this bone marrow malignancy. It will build on the first ever study that examined blood samples from 80 000 people over the age of 40, who were screened for the precursors to the disease. The findings will shed light on the role of screening and early treatment in MM, with the potential to find a cure. Show the project objective Hide the project objective Objective Multiple myeloma (MM) is a bone marrow malignancy that is always preceded by asymptomatic precursor conditions, monoclonal gammopathy of undetermined significance (MGUS) or smoldering MM (SMM). SMM is a more advanced precursor and is associated with a high risk of progression to MM. More than 94% of MM cases are diagnosed when already at the stage of full-blown malignancy and therefore do not benefit from the impact of early treatment. Recent studies indicate a benefit of early treatment but all prior SMM studies are based on patients diagnosed due to other medical issues and are therefore biased. There are important and urgent questions on the role of screening and early treatment in SMM. There is also an unmet need to develop a risk score for progression that considers the biology and genetics of the disease. In Edit-SMM we plan to build on the success from the Iceland Screens, Treats, or Prevents MM (iStopMM) study, where remarkably over 54% of the population (N=80,759) consented to a nationwide screening for MM precursors. It includes clinical evaluation and follow-up, biobanking, cross linking to central health data registries, repeated questionnaires on patient reported outcomes, groundbreaking methods of detection of SMM, and in-depth genetics. Edit-SMM will identify all patients with SMM diagnosed in iStopMM. These will be followed and treated with the global objective of inducing a paradigm shift by improving diagnostics, disease classification, and population implementation of early intervention in MM by detecting and treating MM at a precursor state, hopefully leading to improved quality of life and potentially a cure. The main objectives are to gather knowledge on the epidemiological, clinical, and patient reported outcomes of SMM, perform a unique nationwide early treatment trial, and leverage this unparalleled collection of samples to make major new discoveries on the biology and evolution of SMM. Fields of science natural sciencesbiological sciencesgenetics Keywords Smoldering multiple myeloma MGUS multiple myeloma screening randomized clinical trial patient- reported outcomes population-based flow cytometry cancer genetics phase 2 trial epidemiology Programme(s) HORIZON.1.1 - European Research Council (ERC) Main Programme Topic(s) ERC-2021-COG - ERC CONSOLIDATOR GRANTS Call for proposal ERC-2021-COG See other projects for this call Funding Scheme HORIZON-ERC - HORIZON ERC Grants Host institution HASKOLI ISLANDS Net EU contribution € 1 998 145,00 Address SAEMUNDARGOTU 2 101 Reykjavik Iceland See on map Region Ísland Ísland Höfuðborgarsvæði Activity type Higher or Secondary Education Establishments Links Contact the organisation Opens in new window Website Opens in new window Participation in EU R&I programmes Opens in new window HORIZON collaboration network Opens in new window Total cost € 1 998 145,00 Beneficiaries (1) Sort alphabetically Sort by Net EU contribution Expand all Collapse all HASKOLI ISLANDS Iceland Net EU contribution € 1 998 145,00 Address SAEMUNDARGOTU 2 101 Reykjavik See on map Region Ísland Ísland Höfuðborgarsvæði Activity type Higher or Secondary Education Establishments Links Contact the organisation Opens in new window Website Opens in new window Participation in EU R&I programmes Opens in new window HORIZON collaboration network Opens in new window Total cost € 1 998 145,00
