International Research Collaboration to Address Delayed Diagnosis of Rare Gynecological Cancers

Sbarro Health Research Organization (SHRO) Founder and Director, Antonio Giordano, M.D., Ph.D., has recently published a landmark paper in collaboration with another 28 co-authors hailing from 14 different countries, as part of the GYNOCARE COST Action (CA18117). GYNOCARE is a European Network for Gynaecological Rare Cancer research: From Concept to Cure, which is chaired by Prof Jean Calleja Agius from the Department of Anatomy at the Faculty of Medicine and Surgery at the University of Malta (https://www.cost.eu/actions/CA18117/#tabs|Name:overview).

The paper by Di Fiore, R et al., entitled ‘GYNOCARE Update: Modern Strategies to Improve Diagnosis and Treatment of Rare Gynecologic Tumors—Current Challenges and Future Directions’ was published in Cancers on the 27th January 2021 (https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/33514073/). 

Approximately 18.5 million women annually are affected by gynecological cancer, with more than half being classified as rare cancers. Delayed diagnosis of patients suffering from rare gynecological cancers leads to poor outcomes and contributes to a huge socio-economic burden. This field is lagging behind due to distinct scientific and technological challenges that gynecological cancer research faces. Currently, the overall efforts for addressing these challenges are fragmented across different European countries and beyond. 

GYNOCARE aims to create a unique network between key stakeholders covering these distinct domains: conducting basic research on rare gynecological cancer, biobanking, bridging the gap with the pharmaceutical industry, and establishing legal and regulatory requirements for international trials and other research collaborative efforts. A concrete disease-focused strategy is the only way to improve the prognosis of patients with rare gynecological cancers. To achieve this ambitious goal, research coordination and capacity building objectives have been devised in accordance with the mission and vision of the COST Action, including the provision of equal networking opportunities for early-stage researchers, and other talented young professionals.

About the Sbarro Health Research Organization (SHRO)

The Sbarro Health Research Organization is a non-profit charity committed to funding excellence in basic genetic research to cure and diagnose cancer, cardiovascular diseases, diabetes and related chronic illnesses and to foster the training of young doctors in a spirit of professionalism and humanism (www.shro.org)