CARES (CAncer dRug tESting)
Human ECM-based platform for anti-cancer drug testing

With 2 million cancer-related deaths and an annual cost of €100 billion, cancer constitutes a major European challenge. Cancer treatments have considerably improved over the last decades, however, the success rate of new anti-cancer drugs in clinical trials remains frustratingly low, limiting the opportunities for fast and accurate development of innovative targeted cancer therapies. Our vision is to provide a bold and innovative technology that recapitulates the active part played by the human tumour microenvironment, which has crucial roles in regulating tumour initiation, propagation, and progression, through the dynamic crosstalk between the tumour cells and the extracellular matrix. CARES combines leading academic and non-academic experts in the fields of matrix biology, biomaterials, microfluidics and cancer research to establish an accurate tool to assess cancer cell responses to a variety of anti-cancer drugs. As a proof-of-concept, we will use breast cancer cells as a model system, with the perspective of extending the system to other cancers. Our final goal is to deliver a novel and user-friendly platform that, by resembling the human tumour microenvironment in early and advanced cancer stages, can predict, with unprecedented accuracy, the response of tumour cells to anti-cancer therapies in vivo. This will facilitate development and testing of new drugs and narrow the gap between translational cancer research and targeted cancer treatment, with a significant impact on society and the economy. The ambitious scientific goal will provide the background for intense trans-sectoral and interdisciplinary training of young scientists, who will be provided with an excellent translational research portfolio, allowing them to succeed both in academia and industry.