End of inclusions in the ETIOSARC population study and new funding from the National Cancer Institute for an initial data valorization
RetourSarcomas are a rare type of cancer that develops in the connective tissue of organs.
We suspect some environmental factors may contribute to their development,
but to the present day our understanding of these factors is very limited.
To better understand the origin of sarcomas, a research platform called ETIOSARC has recorded data from around 780 sarcoma patients and also data from 1,480 sarcoma-free people, randomly selected from the population over the period 2019-2024.
Pictures of National Cancer Institute on Unsplash
The ETIOSARC platform, created with the support of INCA (Institut Nationale du Cancer), INSERM and the ARC Foundation, is part of a national research programme aimed at studying the role of lifestyle, environmental, occupational and genetic factors in the development of adult sarcomas. This is a French epidemiological case-control study conducted in the general population, with the objectives of :
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- Identify environmental risk factors for the most frequent histological types
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- Determine if gene-environment exposure interactions are involved in the development of sarcomas
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- Study if some genetic characteristics of the tumour are associated with occupational exposures
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In addition, a secondary objective of this study is to evaluate the possibility of classifying sarcomas according to large groups of molecular abnormalities (simple genetics vs. complex genetics) rather than histological types, in order to identify environmental risk factors associated with these sarcomas.
This study should make it possible to improve scientific knowledge of the causes of sarcomas, confirm or generate new hypotheses on environmental risk factors, help to better understand the specific role of certain environmental factors in the development of sarcomas, improve understanding of individual susceptibility to the development of sarcomas and, in the long term, improve this knowledge so that prevention programmes can be developed to reduce the number of new cases of sarcoma. At the same time, this project should increase French expertise in sarcoma research and treatment.
Picture by Alexander Jawfox on Unsplash
Thanks to this platform, members of the EPICENE team at the BPH will be able to compare occupations, occupational exposures (e.g. pesticides) and lifestyle habits between a group of people with sarcoma and a group of people without the disease. These comparisons will provide solid knowledge on the origin of sarcomas and their possible link with environmental exposure and lifestyle habits.
The new financing from the INCA aims to enhance the value of the data collected in ETIOSARC by looking at the link between occupational factors, certain lifestyle habits (smoking and alcohol consumption) and the occurrence of sarcoma.
