The Institut Curie aims to focus on the most common cancers in women

76,000 new so-called “female” cancers diagnosed every year. It is to reduce this figure that the Dr Anne Vincent-Salomon would like the Curie Institute of Oncology to become a University Hospital Institute (IHU). To date, there are 6 in France. In an interview with a Figaropublished on November 6, the pathologist and head of the center for diagnostic and theranostic medicine explains the project she is conducting to qualify for this new status, and how this would allow the creation of a facility entirely dedicated to the most diagnosed cancers in patients. women, such as breast cancer.

12,000 women die from breast cancer every year

” When we see that there are still 12,000 women dying from breast cancer every year in France and that 15% to 20% of breast cancers have a relapse, we tell ourselves that we are scientifically missing something. “Explains Dr Anne Vincent-Salomon. By becoming an IHU, the Curie Institute of Oncology would benefit from “50 million euros over 10 years, or 5 million a year,” she specifies. As if to say that this project does not have to “look nice” and that its ambitions are real, the project leader adds: “We will not use this money to build a new building, but we will dedicate it to coordinating and developing projects to make France a leader in innovation against female cancers ”.

A great ambition and research in a broad sense. “Our desire is therefore to cover all aspects of women’s cancer, from the cellular and molecular scale to the tumor microenvironment, to the patient in his environment, to his daily life, to his life as a woman ”, explains Anne Vincent-Salomon. The list of candidates for the IHU label is expected to be known by spring 2023.