InsiTu is one of eight integrated cancer research centers (SItes de Recherche Intégrée sur le Cancer [SIRICs]) accredited in 2023 for a 5-year period by the French national cancer institute (Institut National du Cancer – INCa), the French Ministry of Health and Prevention, and INSERM-ITMO Cancer national agency for the sciences of life and health (Alliance nationale pour les sciences de la VIE et la SANté [AVIESAN]).
The SiRIC InsiTu (INSIghts Into Cancer: From Inflammation to TUmor) is based mainly in two research centers (Inflammation Research Center– Centre de Recherche sur l’Inflammation [CRI] and the Saint-Louis research institute – l’Institut de Recherche Saint-Louis [IRSL]), in close collaboration with the hospitals of the university hospital group (GHU) AP-HP. Nord (Beaujon, Bichat, and Saint-Louis) and the Cancer Institute AP-HP. Nord – Université Paris Cité .
SIRIC INSITU PRESENTATION
In digestive, pulmonary, cutaneous, and hematological oncology, where chronic inflammation and clonal emergence play a major role in carcinogenesis, the SiRIC InsiTu is taking up a triple challenge.
- prevention (identifying patients at risk);
- interception (intervening at each stage of the disease to prevent its progression);
- treatment (personalized care through innovative treatments).
To meet these challenges, InsiTu prioritizes the projects around three integrated research programs.
INTEGRATED RESEARCH PROGRAMS
Interaction between inflammation and clonal emergence
Key question : Can we target inflammation to prevent tumor development?
Chronic inflammation and the emergence of clonal cells are interdependent processes that occur at the early stages of carcinogenesis. Determining what type of tissue inflammation is at the origin of tumor development, and how it is connected to clonal hematopoiesis, is essential to understanding the early stages of oncogenesis in solid tissues and leukemias. These questions can be addressed by imaging and sequencing of cells and tissues, two techniques that can be applied to vast populations, and therefore have the potential to represent major advances in cancer prevention.
Scientific coordinator
Dr. Sophie Lotersztajn
sophie.lotersztajn@inserm.fr
Medical coordinator
Prof. Jean Soulier
jean.soulier@aphp.fr
Imaging cancer and its environment
Key question : Can new imaging tools detect tumor emergence non-invasively?
Developing an integrated, multidimensional approach to the study of cancers will enable us to gain a fundamental understanding of the link between molecular alterations, intrinsic tissue complexity and tumor heterogeneity, particularly through imaging. This program aims to offer a « virtual biopsy » that uses non-invasive biomarkers to characterize functional alterations in the tumor. In addition, by identifying critical events and targets in tumor progression, it aims to determine when and how to intercept tumor progression.
Scientific coordinator
Prof. Ralph Sinkus
ralph.sinkus@inserm.fr
Medical coordinator
Prof. Céleste Lebbé
celeste.lebbe@aphp.fr
Identifying new targets and developing new clinical trial approaches
Key question: Can we identify new therapeutic targets for precision medicine in oncology?
Cancer patients often present a high degree of intra-tumoral and inter-patient heterogeneity. Increasing the therapeutic arsenal requires the identification of new tumor-specific vulnerabilities, new therapies, and innovative clinical trial methodologies. Gene-specific precision oncology can be further enhanced by functional annotation of tumors based on ex vivo tests. This program aims to develop new therapeutic targets and strategies, and new biomarkers, and to evaluate them in innovative clinical trials, particularly in the field of hematological malignancies and skin tumors.
Scientific coordinator
Dr. Alexandre Puissant
alexandre.puissant@inserm.fr
Medical coordinator
Prof. Sylvie Chevret
sylvie.chevret@u-paris.fr
To achieve these objectives, the SiRIC InsiTu will integrate multi-scale information targeting cancer cells and their microenvironment, structuring a Tissue Hub at the interface between diagnosis and research, and taking into account the social dimensions of the patient. To achieve this, InsiTu is structured around the following transversal strategic axes.
TRANSVERSAL AXES
The SiRIC InsiTu is based on the ambitious implementation of a Tissue Hub, facilitating access to human samples (cellular and tissue) and their metadata, for multi-scale, omics and functional morphological analyses. The aim is to standardize sample processing, develop interoperability, and facilitate the sharing of expertise.
Coordinators
Jérôme Cros
jerome.cros@aphp.fr
Emmanuelle Clappier
emmanuelle.clappier@aphp.fr
Among other things, this axis focuses on the impact of innovations on care experiences, from patients’ point of view, as well as that of healthcare and research professionals. This study will seek to determine:
- the impact of new therapies on patients’ experiences and representations of illness;
- whether patients’ socio-economic conditions have an impact on their access to information and innovative medical practices (inequalities in access to care);
- how new knowledge is transmitted to care providers and patients, and what are the effects on patients’ decision-making;
- how patients’ participation in the decision-making processes regarding their health is organized.
Coordinators
Catherine Bourgain
catherine.bourgain@inserm.fr
Maria Teixeira
maria.teixeira.rdb@gmail.com
Elise Ricadat
elisericadat@gmail.com
Emmanuelle Cartron
emmanuelle.cartron@u-paris.fr
The transversal philosophy axis focuses on the causal factors of cancer, including cancer cells and their environment. An integrated view of cancer progression remains elusive, although an understanding of the respective roles of mutations and the cellular environment, such as inflammation and tissue damage, in cancer initiation and progression is essential for deciding when and how to act. From a biological point of view, understanding cancer creates important cognitive biases depending on assumptions about the role of mutations and the cellular environment. A unifying or pluralistic approach would favor combinations of different approaches, but it comes with many challenges.
This transversal axis therefore aims to untangle current hypotheses, identify alternative hypotheses, simplify concepts, and limit cognitive biases in order to build alternative, integrative biological theories. These methods of thinking can thus help researchers and clinicians in the treatment and prevention of cancers and complement IRP1’s questions on the causal factors of cancer transformation.
Coordinators
Matteo Mossio
matteo.mossio@univ-paris1.fr
Lucie Laplane
lucie.laplane@univ-paris1.fr
IHPST
In the medical field, patient data is presented in a variety of formats: MRI, CT scans, histology, reports, biological analyses, etc. These data are complementary but are still too often analyzed separately. Consequently, the integration and interpretation of data from different sources, known as multimodal data, is a major challenge. As part of the SiRIC InsiTu, the aim is to better understand and model these large multimodal data sets, particularly in the cancer diagnosis environment, by developing collaborative learning approaches to take advantage of all the data available at different sites. At the same time, to facilitate the management of large quantities of patient data and limit methodological difficulties in analysis, prediction and modeling, this transversel axis aims to develop digital twins that provide a complete view of the patient at a given moment in time. This strategy enables better stratification of patients, and consequently a better view of the impact of therapeutic options on the patient’s overall evolution after simulations on his or her digital twin.
Coordinators
Younès Bennani
younes@lipn.univ-paris13.fr
Stéphanie Allassonnière
stephanie.allassonniere@inria.fr
LaMSN
LIPN
HeKA
GOVERNANCE
Director
Prof. Valérie Paradis
valerie.paradis@aphp.fr
Associate Director
Prof. Raphaël Itzykson
raphael.itzykson@aphp.fr
General Secretary
Prof. Stéphanie Allassonnière
stephanie.allassonniere@inria.fr
Project Manager
Chaïma Kabeche
chaima.kabeche@aphp.fr
NEWS
SiRIC InsiTu is launched!
The SiRIC InsiTu kickoff was held on September 22, 2023, at La Maison des Centraliens. This event was an opportunity to bring together numerous SiRIC teams around presentations of the various integrated research programs and transversal axes.
HSS (SHS) Immersion Day at Beaujon!
The SiRIC InsiTu organized a human and social sciences (HSS) immersion day at the Beaujon Hospital, enabling researchers from the Transversal HSS Axis to meet a wide range of people involved in cancer care and research. The day gathered over 30 players from a wide range of backgrounds and encouraged the involvement of HSS in improving research and patient care pathways.
Artificial Intelligence half-day!
The SiRIC InsiTu organized an Artificial Intelligence half-day at La MSN (Maison des Sciences Numériques), to promote interdisciplinary collaborations and the emergence of innovative projects between researchers, physicians, and data analysis experts. These projects will involve the analysis of multimodal data, as well as the development of digital twins.
PARTNER INSTITUTIONS