Abstract A075: SPECTA: The EORTC translational research platform for Europe
Authors: Vinches Marie , Rojas Teresa de , Stevovic Aleksandra , Mccabe Martin , Blay Jean Yves , Golfinopoulos Vassilis , Tejpar Sabine , Morfouace Marie 
Published: March 2020

SPECTA is the translational research platform from the European Organisation for Research and Treatment of Cancer (EORTC), which facilitates pan-European research projects by providing a comprehensive infrastructure: a single protocol and Patient Informed Consent to enrol patients with cancer, a centralised database for clinical data collection (including long-term follow-up and quality of life), a centralised biobank and quality control sample workflow, expert molecular laboratories dedicated to the needs of the translational research projects. So far, 11 countries with 36 sites are open for recruitment with 43 authorized investigators. Two SPECTA projects focus on rare populations. The first, AYA (Adolescent and Young Adults) enrols patients aged between 12 and 29 years old, diagnosed with high grade glioma or sarcoma. AYA is a pilot study with a strong collaboration, between DKFZ and EORTC, aiming at diagnosis confirmation (central pathology review by pathologist experts and methylation diagnosis), and extensive molecular analysis (WES, RNAseq and methylation array). The aim is not only to have a direct impact on patients through the clinical advice provided to the treating physician by the molecular tumor board, but also to build knowledge for future clinical trials in this population with unmet needs. The second, Arcagen, is a collaborative project with the EUropean network for RAre CANcer (EURACAN), the European network for rare cancer. This project, with the support of Roche, aims at building a clinically annotated genomic database (NGS panels for FMI) of 1,000 rare cancer patients from the 10 EURACAN domains. So far, 81 patients have been recruited: sarcoma (n=43), thymic malignancies (n=16), germ cell tumor (n=10), and rare head and neck tumor (n=15). Druggable alterations were found in about 15% of patients. Molecular reports will be sent to local clinicians, the study results will be used for designing for the next generation of clinical trials in adult rare cancers. The last project currently enrolling in SPECTA is IMMUcan, an Innovative Medicine Initiative project. IMMUcan will generate broad molecular (WES and RNAseq) and cellular profiling data (multiplex immunofluorescence and imaging mass cytometry) of tumor and its microenvironment. Integration of this information with clinical data, will promote understanding on how the immune system and tumors interact, and the impact of current therapeutic interventions. For this purpose, we will enrol 3,000 patients with NSCLC, HNSCC, breast, colorectal and renal cell cancers. For all projects, we faced recurrent issues regarding tumor and peripheral sample quality. We overcomed those issues by performing optimization studies for pan European collection of biological material (such as PBMCs, ctDNA, vesicles or FFPE slides stability for imaging). SPECTA is an academic solution for next level precision medicine, with all the clinical, operational and scientific challenges that it implies.

Citation Format: Marie Vinches, Teresa de Rojas, Aleksandra Stevovic, Martin Mccabe, Jean Yves Blay, Vassilis Golfinopoulos, Sabine Tejpar, Marie Morfouace. SPECTA: The EORTC translational research platform for Europe [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the AACR-NCI-EORTC International Conference on Molecular Targets and Cancer Therapeutics; 2019 Oct 26-30; Boston, MA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Mol Cancer Ther 2019;18(12 Suppl):Abstract nr A075. doi:10.1158/1535-7163.TARG-19-A075