PRECISION: the team that took on lethal versus non-lethal cancers challenge
The challenge
In 2015, Cancer Grand Challenges set the lethal versus non-lethal cancers challenge, which aimed to find ways to distinguish between lethal cancers that need treating, and non-lethal cancers that don’t. It was expected that a thorough understanding of features that could distinguish a non-lethal growth from a potentially lethal malignant growth would allow methods to be developed to specifically detect the cancers that required intervention.
Changing the narrative around DCIS as a precursor to invasive breast cancer
Professor Jelle Wesseling (team lead of PRECISION), reflects on PRECISION's progress against their challenge.PRECISION's impact
In response to the lethal versus non-lethal cancers challenge, the PRECISION team has unveiled elusive biology about non-lethal ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS), transforming the way the field thinks and informing new approaches to DCIS risk stratification to avoid overtreatment.
PRECISION has developed innovative biomarkers to distinguish harmless from hazardous DCIS which, if validated in clinical trials that are currently underway, will revolutionise the way DCIS is managed in the clinic and spare thousands of women from unnecessary, intensive breast cancer treatment.
