What's your field of interest?
Cancer
It is estimated that about one tenth of the world population is suffering from cancer and the WHO projects that cancer will soon replace ischemic heart disease as the overall leading cause of death. In 2008 13% of the mortality (7.6 million) was caused by cancer, where lung cancer alone caused 1.4 million deaths. The number of new cancer cases is expected to rise from about 13 million currently to over 21 million annually by 2030. A large proportion of cancer patients are undiagnosed, yet early diagnosis is critical for a successful treatment outcome. Even though it is difficult to predict, the total cost of cancer is estimated to be as high as $895 billion worldwide.
HUNT Biosciences can add significant value to new cancer diagnostics and treatments in:
- The development of methods for early prediction and detection of increased cancer risks
- The development of molecular diagnostics, i.e. new methods for analysing cancer in individuals
- Making current treatments more effective through the development of new biomarkers that can indicate which patients benefit from available treatment options
- The development of new and more effective treatments which, based on molecular diagnostics, can be aimed at treating specific cancer cells in specific patients
- Analyses of health economic aspects in the planning of screening and intervention programmes based on long term follow-up of a large homogenous population“
HUNT Biosciences key resources:
-
Repository and data
– HUNT has a stable and homogenous population very low on immigration and emigration. Furthermore, the HUNT population is very well characterised through over 500 peer-reviewed publications, and more than 60 completed PhD degrees
– The HUNT Diabetes cohort consists of 6.827 HUNT donors that have been characterised in detail through several HUNT sub-studies. The scientific production includes close to 200 publications including several high impact journals (e.g. Nature, BMJ, NEJM) and 15 PhD stheses.
– Comprehensive information from questionnaires covering lifestyle parameters, such as exercise, family history and general quality of life -
Regulatory approval and quality assurance
– Speedier approval, especially if Norway is rapporteur reference/country (MRP or DCP)
– With the huge number of donors, HUNT can provide documentation for new indications on existing drugs. As part of this, HUNT also offers clinical intervention studies on very well characterised donor groups making the biobank a unique recourse in the planning of such studies
– The HUNT biobank is certified according to the ISO9001:2008 Quality Standard -
Principal Investigators and Investigations
– HUNT is part of the Medical Faculty at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU) and the University Hospital of St. Olav. More than 1.000 medical professionals are part of the HUNT network. -
Access to other registries
– Disease cohorts and matched controls can be identified using unique personal identification numbers (PIN) and clinical end-points registries (e.g. registries forcancer, cardiovascular disease, dementia)
– Medication can be identified using the national prescription registry
– Hereditary factors related to disease can be studied linking HUNT to the national family registry
– Deceased donors can be matched using the national cause of death registry
