IARC highlights rare cancers to mark Rare Disease Day 2023

In a new video to mark Rare Disease Day, scientists from the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) present one aspect of the lungNENomics project, which aims to improve the diagnosis and clinical management of lung neuroendocrine tumours, a type of rare cancer. Most lung neuroendocrine tumours tend to grow slowly, but a significant number are more aggressive, reducing the 10-year overall survival rate to 50%. This research is one of the projects led by the IARC Rare Cancers Genomics Team, which was established to focus on the study of rare cancers. The lungNENomics project was recently awarded funding by the Neuroendocrine Tumor Research Foundation.

Rare cancers are cancer types with fewer than 6 newly diagnosed cases per 100 000 people per year. Although individually these cancer types are rare, taken as a whole, rare cancers account for about 25–30% of all cancer diagnoses and 25% of cancer deaths. Despite the high collective occurrence of rare cancers, basic biological and clinical knowledge about them is lacking.

Researchers from IARC and partner institutions are conducting innovative research using artificial intelligence, molecular imaging, and spatial -omics data to better identify aggressive tumours among rare cancer types. This information enables health-care professionals to make more accurate diagnoses and more informed clinical decisions.

Watch the video about the lungNENomics project

Read more about the IARC Rare Cancers Genomics Team

Visit the website of the Rare Cancers Genomics initiative

Visit the Twitter account of the Rare Cancers Genomics initiative