Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Review
. 2019 Mar;13(3):517-520.
doi: 10.1002/1878-0261.12450. Epub 2019 Feb 1.

Translational cancer research - a coherent cancer research continuum

Ulrik Ringborg  1
Affiliations
Review

Translational cancer research - a coherent cancer research continuum

Ulrik Ringborg. Mol Oncol. 2019 Mar.

Abstract

The main components of the cancer research continuum are basic/preclinical research, early and late clinical research and, after the adoption of an innovation by the healthcare or health organisations, outcomes research. Translational cancer research, defined as a coherent cancer research continuum, is mandatory to address the increasing burden of cancer effectively. The growing cancer problem can only be significantly modified by concerted action involving prevention to decrease incidence, early detection and treatment to increase the cure rate, and personalised/precision cancer medicine to adapt early detection and treatment to the biology of a tumour with the aim of increasing the cure rate, prolonging survival and improving health-related quality of life. By definition, translational cancer research for therapeutics has a focus on patients' needs and for prevention for individuals at-risk. Consequently, to increase the effectiveness of translational research, the different components of the cancer research continuum need to be better connected to the fundamental aim of a mission-oriented approach to cancer (Celis and Pavalkis, ).

Keywords: prevention; the cancer research continuum; therapeutics; translational cancer research.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The author declares no conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Therapeutics close up: the research continuum.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Prevention close up: the research continuum.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Berns A (2019) Quality‐assured research environments for translational cancer research. Mol Oncol 13, 543–548. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Calvo F, Apolone G, Baumann M, Caldas C, Celis JE, De Lorenzo F, Ernberg I, Ringborg U, Rowell J, Tabernero J et al (2018) Cancer Core Europe: a European cancer research alliance realizing a research infrastructure with critical mass and programmatic approach to cure cancer in the 21st century. Eur J Cancer 103, 155–159. - PubMed
    1. Celis JE and Pavalkis D (2017) A mission‐oriented approach to cancer in Europe: a joint mission/vision 2030. Mol Oncol 11, 1661–1672. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Forman D, Bauld L, Bonanni B, Brenner H, Brown K, Dillner J, Kampman E, Manczuk M, Riboli E, Steindorf K et al (2018) Time for a European initiative for research to prevent cancer: a manifesto for Cancer Prevention Europe (CPE). J Cancer Policy 17, 15–23.
    1. Jönsson B and Sullivan R (2019) Mission‐oriented translational cancer research – health economics. Mol Oncol 13, 636–647. - PMC - PubMed

LinkOut - more resources