APREC – Alliance Pour la Recherche En Cancérologie
Our Research focus
APREC FIGHTS CANCER ON THREE FRONTS
Biomolecular research
— To understand the mechanisms of the disease…
By providing researchers with the most up-to-date equipment, APREC enables them to progress in an understanding of the mechanisms by which cancer cells are born and proliferate, and to develop “targeted” treatments against those cells.
APREC has created the first “Tumor Repository” at the Tenon Hospital. This resource, containing many samples of human tumors that have been collected and preserved, is essential for the study of the genome of cancer cells. “Genomic” research today enables us to determine predispositions for certain cancers, to predict the response of certain cancers to a given treatment, and to design new targets for the production of new anti-cancer drugs.
Clinical research
— To détermine the most effective treatments…
In order to cure cancer we must not only find new drugs, but also make them work in people, imagine new associations and new strategies, and ultimately, determine the most effective treatment for each patient: this is the role of clinical research.
This clinical research is conceived within the framework of perfectly controlled “therapeutic trials” to guarantee patients the minimum of possible secondary risks.
APREC has never failed to follow the extremely strict rules of ethics is has imposed on itself both in the selection of therapeutic trials and in the respect of patients’ privacy.
To date APREC has promoted and carried out more than 250 clinical research project5
Translational research
— From the molecule to the patient and from the patient to the molecule…
APREC has always positioned itself as a platform for the interface between biomolecular research, clinical research, and patient care.
Today the concept of “translational research” or “transfer research” from the molecule to the patient and from the patient to the molecule is the leitmotiv of the Plan Cancer and the principal strategic focus of the Institut National du Cancer (INCA – National Cancer Institute).
At present this research is opening the door to a true therapeutic revolution, thanks to the perfecting of “targeted molecules.”
These targeted molecules open the path to personalized treatments, using an analysis of biological and genetic characteristics unique to each patient.