PROMISE: PROteoMIcS REsearch for Advancements in Prevention and Treatment of Cancer

Standalone Project

(N/A)

Collaborative funding applications will be one of the aims of this group.

Proteins are integral to most biological processes including many known to lead to carcinogenesis, such as tissue growth and proliferation. Proteomics can also highlight novel opportunities for the therapeutic prevention of cancer via their well-established role as the target of 98% of drugs. Previous prospective studies of individual or small panels of blood proteins have identified aetiological cancer proteins, such as insulin-like growth factor-I, which is a risk factor of breast, colorectal, and prostate cancers, and microseminoprotein-beta, which is associated with lower prostate cancer risk. Recent advances in multiplexed and high throughput platforms now allow us to measure the simultaneous relative quantification of the circulating levels of thousands circulating proteins. The availability of large-scale proteomics in mature prospective cohorts therefore presents key opportunities to advance our understanding of cancer aetiology and to identify novel prevention strategies. 
 
The idea for this working group stems from initial promising work on proteins and cancer risk done within the EPIC cohort and UK Biobank at the Cancer Epidemiology Unit, University of Oxford. The previous experience of many within the NCI Cohort Consortium, including Prof Travis, Prof Gunter and Prof Riboli, and others within consortia, such as BPC3 and PC3, demonstrated the value of large collaborative initiatives for cancer research, including for prospective studies with biomarker data. The systematic study of the human proteome in relation to cancer risk (incidence, progression and mortality) can lead to valuable insights for aetiology and the therapeutic prevention and control of cancer. So far there is limited collaboration across cohort studies in this area.

The overall goal of this working group is to create a forum that can facilitate the rapid leveraging of emerging prospective proteins and cancer data for the translation of research to improve cancer prevention, early detection, and the treatment and/or prognosis of cancer patients. 

Through this working group, we would hope to provide researchers with a forum to share information, resources and methods in the emerging field of high-throughput proteomics and cancer risk, and to build collaborative studies.

1) Provide information on protein and cancer resources available across the cancer epidemiology cohorts for further proteomics assays; 2) Create a forum for investigators interested in proposing collaborative studies; 3) Generate an understanding and approach to address potential differences for associations identified different technologies or in biospecimens taken from participants that differ by important characteristics, such as ethnicity;  4) Identify topics in which a collaborative study would be more successful, such as when a cancer outcome is rare and statistical power is an issue; 5) and synergise expertise to accelerate science on proteins and cancer epidemiology and the translation of research

2024-The initial step for the protein and cancer cohort consortium, henceforth PROMISE (PROteoMIcS REsearch for Advancements in Prevention and Treatment of Cancer), working group will be to meet in conjunction with the Cohort Consortium Meeting, with an invitation to all interested participants to attend. We will invite attendees to give a short presentation or overview of the protein resources available in their cohorts, any results to date, and any plans for the generation of additional data. This initial meeting will help set the stage for possible collaborations, and discussions will focus on identifying opportunities for synergy.
 
2025-At the 2025 Cohort Consortium Meeting, PROMISE working group members will share new findings, information on the development and application of new panels and analytical techniques, and we will build consensus and identify two to three focused collaborative projects based on mutual interests. Ultimately, a goal will be to submit grant applications for collaborative research in proteins and cancer risk. 

2026-We will continue to discuss and refine best practices for the study of proteins and cancer risk as well as objectives listed above with the members of the PROMISE working group. Ultimately, we hope that a consensus on these topics will result in greater homogeneity between research studies, helping us elucidate the role of proteins in cancer aetiology and prevention, early detection, and the treatment/prognosis of cancer with the goal of facilitating the rapid translation and clinical relevance of our work.

To accelerate scientific discoveries in the rapidly evolving field of cancer proteomics, it is vital to bring together prospective protein data from large cohorts that also have risk factor data, follow-up for cancer incidence and mortality, as well as other biospecimens and biomarker data together, such as data from tumour tissue. The cohort consortium is unique in bringing together cancer epidemiologists and researchers from other relevant disciplines, as well as cohort resources to tackle key scientific questions in cancer risk.

N/A

Cancer incidence, recurrence, prognosis

Circulating protein concentrations.

Common epidemiological covariates including age at recruitment, weight, height, smoking status (and measures of smoking duration and intensity where available), educational attainment, alcohol consumption, marital status, socioeconomic status, ethnicity.

Yes