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cANCER

Cancer is a priority disease for LIH and research efforts cover all its facets, with Precision Oncology at the heart of our efforts. 

Our focus research areas include immuno-oncology, neuro-oncology, the tumour microenvironment, tumour metabolism and tumour genetics. Dedicated expertise is available for selected cancer types including brain cancers and haematological malignancies. In addition, LIH hosts Luxembourg’s National Cancer Registry (Registre National du Cancer, RNC), a core component of the national cancer control strategy. The RNC is a population-based cancer registry (PBCRs) and collects information from multiple sources on all new cancers diagnosed or treated in Luxembourg for public health and research purposes.

LIH also conducts research on cancer prevention and care, including risk factor identification and health data expertise, and digital biomarkers, using Patient-reported outcome measures (PROMs) and patient-reported experience measures (PREMS) to improve cancer patient outcomes (“Luxembourg to speed up the standardisation of clinical data” and Colive Voice project).

LIH investigates mechanistic processes that are fundamental for cancer initiation, progression and resistance to treatment. These include reciprocal crosstalk between tumour and non-neoplastic cells, cancer genetics and epigenetics, resistance to treatment, cancer metabolism and processes of invasion and metastasis.

The goal is to understand the biology of the disease in order to advance novel concepts from the prediction of response to therapy, the identification of novel targets for treatment to the development of innovative treatment approaches. A particular focus lies in developing and improving immunotherapies.

In parallel LIH has built up a strong expertise in selected cancer types, including brain cancer and blood malignancies.

For brain cancer, LIH focuses on malignant gliomas, including Glioblastoma (GBM), and brain metastases, leveraging on an in-house collection of more than 500 cross-sectional patient-derived tumour samples (PRECISION_PDX cohort). An extensive cohort of ex vivo and in vivo patient avatars has been generated and made publicly available. LIH also has a strong expertise in neuropathology through the PEARL chair in neuropathology leading to the creation of the Luxembourg Center of Neuropathology (LCNP).

In terms of haematological malignancies, LIH’s research activities concentrate on chronic lymphocytic leukaemia and the interaction of tumour cells with their microenvironment.

Through the Personalised Functional Profiling (PFP) project, dedicated to patients with GBM and gastro-intestinal cancers (GIC), we aim to deliver personalized treatment options based on upfront drug-response parameters determined on each patient’s tumour.

To maximise the clinical impact of LIH’s translational research and in close alliance with the National Cancer Plan (PNC), LIH has paved the way towards a National Center for Translational Cancer Research, with the aim to foster precision oncology, public health research and immunotherapies in Luxembourg.

LIH research groups

Several LIH research groups are currently working on this highly transversal priority area, integrating a broad set of in-house methodologies and capacities — ranging from ‘-omic’ approaches to patient-based models, risk factor identification, cancer epidemiology, exposure measurement and digital health expertise — thus studying the disease from different angles in a truly holistic way.

Discover the different research groups below. 

Projects & clinical trials

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