Project description
Development of low-cost diagnostic tools for early detection of liver cancer
Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is the most common type of liver cancer, largely associated with people with long-term liver diseases and those whose liver is scarred by infection with hepatitis B or C. The high burden of HCC in developing countries represents a major public health challenge. HCC patients have a very poor prognosis, and early diagnosis is critical for disease outcome. Funded by the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions programme, the COCLICAN project aims to develop effective low-cost methods for early diagnosis, which can be used by medical institutions and patients in developing countries. The international team will analyse metabolomics profiles of hepatitis-infected patients to identify molecules that predict the emergence of liver cancer.
Objective
Hepatitis B (HBV) and C virus (HCV) are the most important etiologic agents of Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), which is the second leading cause of tumour related death in the world. The burden of HCC in developing countries represents a major challenge in global public health for the oncoming decades. Clinically, HCC patients have a very poor prognosis and high 5-year mortality rate except when detected early. As a result, HCC early detection is a critical parameter to anticipate the initiation of a tumour process, but affordable and discriminant diagnostic tools are lacking.
A consortium of European and Third Countries institutions (Peru and Laos) gathered within the project COCLICAN proposes to tackle this issue through the analysis of metabolomics serum profiles of a large cohort of HBV-HBC infected patients to delineate a bunch of molecules predictive of the emergence of liver cancer. The performance of a low-cost and open-source echo-stethoscope connected to a smartphone will also be assessed, to allow early detection of tumorogenesis in health care underserved areas.
This will be possible, thanks to the construction of a sustainable scientific and academic network of engineers, researchers and clinicians mobilised to exchange expertise, skills, technologies, biological material, deployed in three continents: Europe, South America and Asia.
COCLICAN has been designed to improve research collaborations, to reinforce capacities, to enhance knowledge of partners and students involved in the project, but also to raise awareness of policy makers and to participate to the innovation potential improvement at the European and global levels. COCLICAN will therefore respond to the health needs of left behind populations, all around the world.
Fields of science
- medical and health scienceshealth sciencespublic health
- medical and health sciencesclinical medicineoncologyliver cancer
- medical and health scienceshealth sciencesinfectious diseasesDNA viruseshepatitis B
- medical and health scienceshealth sciencesinfectious diseasesRNA viruseshepatitis C
- engineering and technologyelectrical engineering, electronic engineering, information engineeringinformation engineeringtelecommunicationsmobile phones
Programme(s)
Coordinator
13572 Marseille
France