Major technological and methodological projects now permit analysing more than 10 billion bases per machine per day (high throughput sequencing). This has enabled the international scientific community to take up a new challenge: that of sequencing the genomes of the cancers of several thousand patients.

This international program launched in 2008, of a magnitude similar to that of sequencing the “normal” genome in terms of scientific, technological and organisational resources, is driven by a new consortium: the International Cancer Genome Consortium (ICGC). The program aims at obtaining better understanding of the role of genomic alterations in the development of certain cancers for fifty types of cancer.

The result of this collaborative sequencing and bioinformatics will be a catalogue of genes strongly suspected of playing a role in each type of cancer studied. These data will also be made freely available.

The challenge is to enable researchers all over the world to formulate new therapeutic, diagnostic and preventive strategies.

Carcinogenesis and hereditary predisposition: process resulting in the formation of a cancer.

Carcinogenesis can be defined as the acquisition by cells of certain properties that make them immortal and which endow them with the capacity for unlimited proliferation. The number of divisions that a human cell can generate is limited by a mechanism called senescence. Tumour cells also become insensitive to signals intended to inhibit proliferation. In addition, they acquire the capacity of neoangiogenesis (the process by which new blood vessels grow from existing ones. The cancerous mass is irrigated by blood vessels that supply the oxygen and food necessary to the survival of the cancer cells) and that of the invasion or infiltration of neighbouring and remote tissues. Cancer cells can pass into a blood vessel and be transported to another organ where they can generate a second cancer (metastasis).

The main cause of cancer is the mutation of genes only in the diseased cells. A cancer has at least 5 to 10 modified genes in one cell. Also, only 5-10% of human cancers are associated with a constitutional mutation of a gene; in this case we speak of family cancers of a hereditary nature and genetic predisposition.

In the case of predisposition to a cancer, as with all multifactorial diseases, genetic heredity and inter-individual genetic variability are not the only factors involved. The relations of the organism with its environment also influence the development or not of a cancer.

On the contrary, individuals exposed to a similar environment do not all run the same risk.

A large number of chemical, biological and physical agents in the environment can affect genes and cause their mutation, thus having an impact on their functioning and on carcinogenesis.

Candidate drug: a compound (small molecule, antibody, etc.) with strong therapeutic potential and whose activity and specificity have been optimised.

The point of departure for fundamental researchers (fundamental and academic research) consists in identifying and validating therapeutic targets likely to be involved in a given disease.
Once the target has been identified, characterised and validated by a series of biological tests, it is necessary to identify the substances capable of acting on the target (activation, inhibition) appropriately. Active molecules are identified by screening and are called “hits”. Then new tests are performed to measure their dose-effect and physicochemical properties.

Computer modelling of the chemical structure of the hits and their interaction with the target permits designing new derivatives that undergo new tests to measure the therapeutic potential of these molecules and their capacity to be administered to human beings.

Medicinal chemistry thus optimises the activity of these molecules on the target and their behaviour in vivo (toxicity, bioavailability, etc.). Thus lead molecules are obtained.

After several cycles of optimisation (exchanges between modelling, chemical synthesis and biological tests), the substance presenting optimal characteristics is chosen as a candidate drug. This substance is then subjected to a new series of tests, and preclinical and clinical trials.

A cell is a functional and structural unit that composes the tissues and organs of living organisms.
It contains the genetic information of the individual and is the origin of biological creation.

It is complex and composed of different elements that provide it with autonomy though in interaction with other cells.

Cellular signalling is the communication system used by cells in multicellular organisms to regulate their metabolic processes, development, organisation and activity. The molecules involved in these exchanges (“ligands” can be hormones, neurotransmitters, growth factors, etc.) carry out intercellular signalling, i.e. transmit information via chemical signals that are decoded by cell receptors, and intracellular communication, or in other words the transfer of these messages within cells. For example, they can send messages of differentiation, quiescence (interruption of division), proliferation and death (apoptosis) to the cell.

The Chairs of Excellence are aimed at either strengthening or setting up a research team that works on clearly defined themes that the Synergie Lyon Cancer Foundation wishes to support and develop (cancer escape and therapeutic targeting).

The Chairs of Excellence funded by Synergie Lyon Cancer permit the reception in Lyon of confirmed foreign and French researchers (Senior Chairs of Excellence), and promising young talent (Junior Chairs of Excellence).

The financial aid provided by Synergie Lyon Cancer is limited in time (generally from one to three years). It covers the salary of one or more researchers or research engineers and is completed by an operating subsidy.

Once “boosted” in this way, these teams can then find new funds more easily.

Chemotherapy drugs destroy cancerous cells (cytotoxic) or prevent them from propagating (cytostatic), by acting on the synthesis of their DNA and their proteins. In particular it targets cells that divide rapidly, meaning cancerous cells. Certain healthy cells also divide rapidly such as blood and hair cells, which may also be destroyed, although they multiply again after treatment. Several different drugs are often administered in combination to increase the efficacy of chemotherapy. The molecules, the administration method and the duration of the treatment selected conform to protocols that have been validated previously. 

Chromatin is the form in which DNA is present in the core. It is the basic substance of eukaryotic chromosomes, and corresponds to the association of DNA, RNA and proteins. The proteins are of two types: histones and non-histone proteins.

Chromosomes are elements of the cell nucleus structured in the form of spindles during its division. They are composed of proteins and DNA. Thus they carry genetic information transmitted from “mother” cells to “daughter”’ cells during cell division, as do parents to their children at the moment of fertilisation. Each human cell has 23 pairs of chromosomes of which the whole set can be represented by a “map” called karyotype. 

A chromosome is a microscopic cellular structure composed of DNA molecules linked to numerous proteins.

Chromosomes carry genetic information and constitute the hereditary material of cells.

Chromosomes are present in the cells of all living organisms, in varying numbers and specific to each species. In the human being, there are 23 pairs of chromosomes contained in the nucleus of each of our cells: 22 pairs common to the two sexes and one pair called sex chromosomes. In the female, the chromosomes form a pair of identical chromosomes, the X chromosomes. In the male, the sex chromosomes are different: one of the chromosomes is an X chromosome and the other, much shorter, is called the Y chromosome.

A clinical test is biomedical research (or clinical research) organised and practiced on human beings in view to developing biological and medical knowledge. Clinical research is conducted after research in the laboratory and on animals (known as the preclinical phase) to assess the activity of a product, its toxicity and determine its benefit/risk ratio.

Clinical tests are used to evaluate and determine the safety of use (phase I), the fate of the product in the organism and confirm the therapeutic efficiency of the molecule for a given disease (phases II and III). They are performed for new drugs and on new ways of using a known treatment, either alone or in combination.

Clinical research is subject to strict regulations and international laws. The objective is to protect patients during and after the development of a drug and its launching on the market.

It also concerns medical devices (instruments, apparatus, equipment and software, intended by their manufacturers for use on human beings, in particular for diagnostics, prevention, control, treatment, and for reducing the effects of a disease or injury).

See also

• Fundamental research
• Translational research

Understanding the complex system of processing information capable of acquiring, conserving, using and transmitting knowledge.

Cognitive science pertains to the study of all complex systems used to process information that are capable of acquiring, conserving, using and transmitting knowledge .

Cognitive science is dedicated to the description, explanation and modelling (simulation) of:

• the mechanisms of human, animal and artificial intelligence,
• phenomena as varied as  perception, intelligence, memory, language, calculation, learning, reasoning, problem solving, decision-making, intelligence, attention and even conscience.

Cognitive science is a vast interdisciplinary field. It uses the data produced by science and engineering: linguistics, anthropology, psychology, neurosciences, philosophy, artificial intelligence, etc. These interdisciplinary competences are a major advantage in various professional domains and especially for pharmaceutical research. Cognitive processes can be distinguished from mental processes that pertain to the affective, traditionally treated by psychoanalysis and clinical psychology.

The critical mass is the optimal size of a group enabling the addition of energies and competences in order to reach equilibrium, and taking a decisive step further while maintaining flexibility and reactivity.

The aim is to form an efficient and lasting organisation capable of obtaining optimal results and reaching fixed objectives.

The cell compartment bounded by the plasma membrane (cell membrane). It is a complex, organised and dynamic environment.

The biochemical reactions of cellular metabolism occur constantly to ensure the permanent renewal of molecular and cellular constituents. It also contains a large number of organelles that each performs a specific function. It surrounds the cell nucleus in the centre. Cytoplasm is the medium essential for synthesis, the multiplication of genes (nucleus) and then their transformation into RNA and proteins (cytoplasm).