From a visionary idea to a reality that has been involved in research and care for 35 years. When, on June 19, 1986, the Piedmontese Foundation for Cancer Research was founded on the initiative of some illustrious oncologists supported by Allegra Agnelli, it was clear that solidarity would make the difference. Today the demonstration is there for all to see: l‘Istituto di Candiolo Irccs is an Italian excellence in the treatment of a broad spectrum of tumor pathologies and one of the most important healthcare facilities in Italy for the number of patients assisted in the treatment of breast cancer and sarcoma. Furthermore, for every euro donated, over 92 cents are destined for research and treatment of the sick.
Here they work 323 researchers, engaged in 154 protocols and experimental studies, with 1589 high-level scientific publications behind them. And the goal is to “treat more and more people and do it better and better, in the name of competence and humanity, in a structure open and accessible to all”, he comments Gianmarco Sala, director of the Foundation. A virtuous example of how a private institution can put itself at the service of an entire territory.
This birthday marks another milestone in the battle against cancer: the expansion of the center, with an investment of around 100 million over the next few years, again with private funds, thanks also to the 5 per thousand. For the fiscal year 2020, the Piedmontese Foundation for Cancer Research of Candiolo has collected over 254 thousand preferences, reaching 11.9 million euros, with a growth of 309% since 2006. The works in the construction site that will create laboratories, departments and new spaces available to patients and their loved ones have already begun: 26 thousand square meters in addition to the existing 56 thousand, including a hospice with 20 hospital rooms, a biobank to store tissues, a proton therapy department, new polyclinics and services for training and teaching. But in parallel, the daily activity of the center continues, with its multidisciplinary specialist programs for the diagnosis and treatment of oncological diseases.
Not even Covid has interrupted this path: “Here the activity has never stopped – confirms the professor Anna Sabino, scientific director of the Candiolo Institute – clinical activity continued, also expanding to Covid diagnostics. And in the last year and a half we have seen a significantly increased percentage of applications compared to the past, as well as a scientific production with an impact factor over 1000, a high value of scientific articles based on the prestige of the journals on which they were published. , and this is further proof of the great work being done here in Candiolo ”.
What awaits us now? “A major project on tumor heterogeneity has started, that is the study of the different cells that form tumors, in search of the causes of resistance to targeted drugs. To do so, he came to us Nicola Crosetto of the Karolinska Institutet which has developed a very performing sequencing method. From September we will start studying cancer stem cells while a clinical research project on the use of alternative technologies to traditional surgery for the treatment of metastases and relapses on the prostate is about to start, led by Francesco Porpiglia. E Felice Borghi is pursuing a new, less invasive surgical approach for rectal cancers while the hematologist Umberto Vitolo he is following a genomics project on type B lymphomas and relapses ”.
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