No. 01

COMPASS: The guide to new therapies for children with cancer

The COMPASS project aims to identify new ways of treating childhood cancers
The COMPASS project aims to identify new ways of treating childhood cancers

Through a targeted combination of molecular and microscopy-based techniques, researchers aim to identify new treatment approaches for children with cancer. The Hopp Children's Cancer Center Heidelberg (KiTZ) coordinates the project, which is funded by the European consortium ERA PerMed with 1.5 million euros and involves scientific institutions from France, the Netherlands, Finland and Hungary in addition to the KiTZ. The "Hopp Children's Cancer Center Heidelberg" (KiTZ) is a joint institution of the German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ), Heidelberg University Hospital (UKHD) and Heidelberg University.

When standard therapies fail in the treatment of children with cancer, molecular procedures can lead the way to new, targeted drugs. But what if they alone do not deliver the hoped-for key to treatment success? “Then we apply high-throughput microscopy techniques to investigate whether the tumor tissue is responsive to a library of clinically approved drugs, adding a valuable dimension to diagnostics,“ said Olaf Witt, director of the Translational Program at the KiTZ and head of the Division of Pediatric Oncology in the Clinical Cooperation Unit of the German Cancer Research Center and the Heidelberg University Hospital. “Combining the functional image-based drug response data with the information obtained through molecular analyzes, we obtain more accurate evidence of promising therapeutic approaches in previously incurable childhood cancer.“

This forms the approach of the new project COMPASS (Clinical implementation Of Multidimensional PhenotypicAl drug SenSitivities in paediatric precision oncology), which is funded by the European consortium ERA PerMed with 1.5 million euros over a period of three years. ERA PerMed is an association focused on the promotion of personalized medicine projects, with 32 partners from over 23 countries. It is co-funded by the European Commission.

“The goal is to build an international, standardized and validated platform for drug testing based on image analysis and accompanying molecular analysis that characterizes and classifies different types of tumors for their response to different drugs,“ said KiTZ staff member Sina Oppermann, Scientific Coordinator of the COMPASS project. “In the long run, the data will be translated into clinical trials at the KiTZ, so that affected children benefit as quickly as possible from the findings.“

In addition to the KiTZ with its European children's oncology platform “INFORM“, five other scientific institutions are partners in the COMPASS project: the Institute Curie (Paris, France), Princess Máxima Center for Pediatric Oncology (Utrecht, The Netherlands), Academic Medical Center,University of Amsterdam (AMC) (Amsterdam, The Netherlands), Institute for Molecular Medicine Finland (FIMM) and University of Helsinki (Finland) and the startup company Single Cell Technologies Inc. (Szeged, Hungary).

An image for this press release is available for download at: Kompass_AdobeStock_Tobias-Machhaus.jpg 

Caption:
The COMPASS project aims to identify new ways of treating childhood cancers

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About DKFZ

With more than 3,000 employees, the German Cancer Research Center (Deutsches Krebsforschungszentrum, DKFZ) is Germany’s largest biomedical research institute. DKFZ scientists identify cancer risk factors, investigate how cancer progresses and develop new cancer prevention strategies. They are also developing new methods to diagnose tumors more precisely and treat cancer patients more successfully. The DKFZ's Cancer Information Service (KID) provides patients, interested citizens and experts with individual answers to questions relating to cancer.

To transfer promising approaches from cancer research to the clinic and thus improve the prognosis of cancer patients, the DKFZ cooperates with excellent research institutions and university hospitals throughout Germany:

  • National Center for Tumor Diseases (NCT, 6 sites)
  • German Cancer Consortium (DKTK, 8 sites)
  • Hopp Children's Cancer Center (KiTZ) Heidelberg
  • Helmholtz Institute for Translational Oncology (HI-TRON Mainz) - A Helmholtz Institute of the DKFZ
  • DKFZ-Hector Cancer Institute at the University Medical Center Mannheim
  • National Cancer Prevention Center (jointly with German Cancer Aid)

The DKFZ is 90 percent financed by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research and 10 percent by the state of Baden-Württemberg. The DKFZ is a member of the Helmholtz Association of German Research Centers.

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