Today is celebrated National Day for the fight against Leukaemia, Lymphoma and Myeloma.
Called in 2006 by decree of the President of the Council of Ministers on the proposal of the Minister of Health, the Day is an opportunity to take stock of the progress achieved by scientific research in the fight against neoplastic diseases and to inform and sensitize citizens through activities carried out on the whole national territory.
The Italian Leukemia-Lymphoma and Myeloma Association (AIL), promoter of the Day, has also activated for the 2023 celebration the “Freephone number for haematological problems 800.22.65.24”active from 8.00 to 20.00, to which a pool of hematologists will respond to offer answers to patients’ questions and doubts about therapeutic pathways, treatment centers and doubts concerning pathologies.
Claim of Day 2023: “Many lives start over from research”.
Oncohematological tumours
Overall, as highlighted by the 2023-2027 National Oncology Plan, oncohaematological diseases play a leading role within the National Health Service because:
they have an overall incidence of about 10% of all cancers; leukemia and lymphoma are in ninth and eighth place, respectively, among the causes of neoplastic death; they have prospects for healing and control in the medium to long term conditioned by: timeliness and accuracy of diagnostic procedures, sometimes particularly sophisticated and/or expensive and often available in their necessary completeness only within regional and/or national networks; appropriateness and effectiveness of therapeutic interventions that can often only be provided by highly specialized dedicated structures; there is a progressive availability and ever more generalized use of highly effective biological and non-biological drugs.
The AIOM Report“The numbers of cancer in Italy 2022” indicates that in 2022 have been estimated approx 14,400 new diagnoses (men 8,100; women 6,300) of Non-Hodgkin’s lymphomas (NHL) e in 2020 have been estimated approx 2,150 new diagnoses (men 1,220; women 930) at Linfomi in Hodgkin (LH). In 2022 are expected approx 9,600 new diagnoses of Leukemia (men 5,300; women 4,300).
The importance of professional training, networks and multidisciplinary teams
The National Oncological Plan (PON) highlights that the activity of professional training, essential in the healthcare field, is particularly so for the oncohaematological sector, where the progress of knowledge, with the relative repercussions in practice, has been particularly rapid in recent years. The rationalization of the training offer also through the use of innovative tools such as e-learning platforms allows a real-time update on the application of the new diagnostic methods and the consequent therapeutic actions.
The Plan, in the oncohematological field, also indicates several strategic lines. Among these are:
Guarantee/promote a territorial network efficient for the early taking care of the patient, based on structures able to make use of geographic network services to which biological samples of blood or bone marrow can be sent, as well as other useful procedures based on teleconsultations Foster the development of multidisciplinary team for the management of the oncological patient
The Centers
As regards the organization of the assistance offer in the territory, approximately 200 hematology clinics which include approx 100 Complex Operative Units of Hematologyentirely dedicated to the care of haematological patients and as many general medicine departments, with ordinary hospitalization beds and/or availability of hospitalization under the DH regime and/or outpatient clinics dedicated to patients with haematological malignancies.
On the Transparency portal published on the Agenas website (National Agency for Regional Health Services), in the Find Structures section it is possible, by indicating the health problem you are suffering from, to find the health structures present in the various regions, the Regional Oncological Networks and the National Network rare tumors.
The fundamental role of research for the development of innovative therapies
Until thirty years ago, our understanding of pediatric cancersthe leading cause of death from disease in children, was scarce. The cell types and mutations that give rise to these tumors were unknown, patients were grouped into heterogeneous categories, and therapeutic options were very limited. There research of recent years has revolutionized the scenario In this compound.
The Coordination and Support Action (CSA) europea 4.UNCAN.eu.
It arises from the convergence of two European initiatives: Europe’s Beating Cancer Plan and the Mission on Cancer, which involves prestigious institutes from numerous Member States. For Italy participates the IRCCS Network Alliance Against Cancer (ACC). 4.UNCAN.eu look to make one roadmap of cancer research in Europe and create a federated data hub (Federated Cancer Research Data Hub) for sharing data to achieve a better understanding of tumor biology in the service of patient needs. 4.UNCAN.eu will also take care of defining the priority of cancer research at European leveldivided into six strategic areas: prevention, early diagnosis, resistance to therapy, pediatric tumors, cancer and aging, survival.
The new CAR-T technologies
At the national level, funding has been arranged for new ones “CAR T” technologies in favor of the IRCCS with adequate skills of the Network Alliance Against Cancer per euro 10.000.000. The Network Project “CAR T cells for hematological malignancies and solid tumors”, promoted by the Ministry of Health, aims to create a collaborative network that combines the skills of the various participating institutions.
The B-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia (B-ALL) is the most common pediatric malignancy, but it bears witness to one of the greatest recent successes in the field of oncological therapy. There prognosis of such a tumor was revolutionized since the advent ofimmunotherapy based on the genetic modification of T lymphocytes of the patient in order to induce the expression of specific receptors (chimeric antigen receptor T cells, CAR-T cells) to make them capable of detecting and destroying cancer cells. The activities carried out in the project have also opened up further research developments which also pave the way for other pediatric cancers, also taking into account the new financing established by the recent budget law for the three-year period 2023-2025 for a total of euros 1.250.000.
Il Progetto IMI2 for ITCC PEDIATRIC PRECLINICAL POC PLATFORM (ITCC-P4)
Further perspectives are also opened by virtuous collaboration between research and industry such as the one created with the IMI2 for ITCC PEDIATRIC PRECLINICAL POC PLATFORM (ITCC-P4) project. The consortium brings together many of the most important academic and clinical-translational research institutions in Europe (for Italy the IRCCS Istituto Rizzoli [IOR] of Bologna, the Bambino Gesù Pediatric Hospital [OPBG] of Rome and the National Cancer Institute of Milan [INT]), well-established small and medium-sized enterprises, members of European biopharmaceutical enterprises and members of the European Federation of Pharmaceutical Industries and Associations, and has 21 partners from 8 countries, including Italy. The project aims to establish 400 new preclinical models derived from pediatric solid tumor patients at high risk of therapeutic failure, which will be fully characterized from a molecular, immunological, pharmacological and clinically well annotated point of view. The project’s goal is to build a sustainable global platform to use these models to accelerate the development of drugs and targeted treatment strategies for children and adolescents affected by cancer.
The efforts of researchers of the numerous and prestigious Italian research institutions in recent years have revolutionized the scenario in this area: today 4 out of 5 children who get cancer they heal.
Thanks to these fundamental advances, it is estimated that, today, one twenty-year-old out of 800 is cured of a neoplasm suffered in childhood. It is therefore further confirmation that research progress translates into incredible improvements in the possibilities of treating pediatric cancer patients.
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