Project HOPE

The Shizuoka Cancer Center launches the Project HOPE (High-tech Omics-based Patient Evaluation), the cutting-edge genetic research project

In January, 2014, the Shizuoka Cancer Center launched the Project HOPE (High-tech Omics-based Patient Evaluation), a clinical study aiming at the ideal cancer medicine, which consists of “personalized medicine” and “Mibyo (presymptomatic state of disease)” medicine. The features of this project are: No restrictions for cancer types, integrated method of analysis called multiomics is employed for genetic analyses, and it’s a research within one single site, Shizuoka Cancer Center, which is equipped with a research institute in addition to its function as a hospital.
For genetic research of this project, cancer tissues and blood samples are supplied from patients of about 1,000 cases extracted from more than 3,000 cases a year of surgical operations at the Shizuoka Cancer Center. In the field of genomics, genetic changes (qualitative transformation of genes) are evaluated, while changes in genetic expressions (quantitative alteration of genes) are evaluated in the field of RNA analyses (transcriptomics) and also multiomics study including proteomics and metabolomics is proceeding well.
About 1,000 cases are analyzed a year, which achieved 9,732 case analyses in 9 years between January, 2014 and January, 2023. A clinical database has been constructed by combining genomic data with clinical data.

The genetic information obtained from this research is utilized for the optimized drug selection for a cancer patient. It is being employed for futuristic cancer medicine as well, which includes not only the selection of cancer therapy products but also the presymptomatic prognoses of hereditary diseases.
Analytical results are stored for many years to come, so that they will be given back as the benefits for patients in the future, when new treatment methods and analysis technologies are developed.
That will be when the stored data is taken for further reanalysis and is used for personalized medicine and Mibyo medicine.
The study is subjected for each individual patient, which is the cutting-edge research concept rare to be found anywhere in the world.
We have also made efforts for development in the field of cancer munotherapy.
We established an on-site cell processing facility approved by the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare, and started developing unique neoantigen-based cancer immunotherapy.
This utilizes the cancer multiomics clinical database described above, and is based on fundamental technology cultivated through clinical trials using the dendritic cell-based vaccine.
It’s a new project of research and development for cancer diagnosis and treatment technologies.
These research activities brought the establishment of a joint venture company between Shizuoka Cancer Center and SRL Inc. for clinical sequencing.

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Research Institute

Research Institute