Chemotherapy resistance is the greatest contributor to cancer mortality, and the most urgent unmet challenge in oncology. Resistance is thought to emerge from small tumor cell subpopulations, and different such “resistant subpopulations” are thought to exist in different patients. This complexity makes the study and treatment of resistance extremely difficult.
The PARIS project (“Precision drugs Against Resistance in Subpopulations”) aims at the identification of the most common resistance subpopulations in ovarian cancer, and their treatment using drugs that target these subpopulations.
To achieve its ambitious objectives, PARIS builds on, and develops:
- a large collection of ovarian cancer samples
- leading-edge ovarian cancer models
- advanced single-cell measurement technology
- new high-performance algorithms to analyse the resulting large datasets
- leading-edge preclinical validation models
- extensive experience in the clinical management of ovarian cancer
PARIS brings together laboratories in France, Finland, Denmark, and Norway that each specialise in one or more of these aspects. If successful, the project will result in a library of drugs that can be used to target the specific chemoresistance mechanisms active in each patient’s tumor cell subpopulation – a paradigm shift in personalised oncotherapy.