Advancing early detection and personalized prevention of Lynch syndrome.
Funded by the European Union
HORIZON-MISS-2024-CANCER-01-03
Grant no. 101213916
The PREDI-LYNCH project is dedicated to advancing early detection and personalized prevention of Lynch syndrome, a hereditary condition that predisposes individuals to colorectal, endometrial, and several other types of cancer.
Project description
The PREDI-LYNCH project is dedicated to advancing early detection and personalized prevention of Lynch syndrome, a hereditary condition that predisposes individuals to colorectal, endometrial, and several other types of cancer.
Through collaboration with leading medical institutions and researchers, the project aims to refine risk assessment tools that combine genetic markers, family history, and lifestyle factors. This holistic approach enables healthcare providers to offer tailored screening and prevention strategies, ultimately reducing cancer incidence and improving long-term patient outcomes.
PREDI-LYNCH also emphasizes patient education and accessibility, ensuring that risk prediction tools are user-friendly and available to diverse populations. By bridging the gap between research and clinical practice, the PREDI-LYNCH project strives to empower individuals and clinicians alike with actionable insights for precision medicine in hereditary cancer prevention.
Our partners
The project “Validated non-invasive liquid biopsy tests for cancer PREDIction in LYNCH Syndrome, PREDI-LYNCH” was officially launched on May 1st, 2025 and is funded by the European Commission Horizon Europe Mission on Cancer with 13.6 million Euro.
Partners
Countries
Years
Mission
What is Lynch syndrome?
Lynch syndrome (LS) is an autosomal dominant cancer syndrome caused by pathogenic germline variants in one of the DNA mismatch repair (MMR) genes. It is the most common monogenic hereditary cancer predisposition syndrome worldwide.
Carriers of pathogenic MMR variants have a high lifetime risk of developing colorectal (CRC), gynaecological, and urothelial tract cancers as well as gastric, duodenal, small bowel, pancreatic, biliary tract, prostate, kidney, brain, and skin cancers.
LS affects 1 in 440 people of European ancestry. However, many are unaware of their risk, and only 5% of the 2 million estimated LS carriers in Europe are under cancer surveillance.
Tumor-based MMR screening is now routine, which has increased the number of people diagnosed with LS, but this is meaningless without effective means to reduce their cancer risk.
CRC, endometrial, and urothelial cancers are most common in LS. Despite CRC surveillance and aspirin use, up to 60% of LS carriers still develop CRC, and 80% get some form of cancer. Gynaecological surveillance in LS, i.e., transvaginal ultrasound and endometrial biopsy, is invasive and painful, while evidence of benefits is lacking. The studies are of low quality and have contradictory outcomes. Therefore, women are recommended to undergo a hysterectomy in their early forties.
For urothelial cancers, there is no established means of surveillance, meaning that these cancers are often detected at an advanced stage. Uretero-cystoscopy, commonly used for urothelial cancer diagnosis, is invasive and expensive, whereas urinalysis or urine cytology is ineffective. We therefore urgently need to improve cancer surveillance in LS to detect cancers at an early stage, utilizing effective and minimally invasive strategies, to improve patient outcomes and compliance.
This is what PREDI-LYNCH will focus on.
our approach
PREDI-LYNCH sets out to make a difference for people with Lynch syndrome (LS) by developing and implementing novel, non-invasive early detection methods for colorectal, endometrial and urothelial cancers in patients with Lynch syndrome.
The research team addresses an unmet medical need in providing an innovative approach to biomarker discovery for early-stage cancers in Lynch syndrome patients. The project gathers leading European researchers, clinicians, biotech companies and patient advocates. Together they aim for setting new standards in early cancer detection for rapid upscaling, for clinical adoption across EU and globally. The project has potential to change clinical practice.
The project has the potential to change clinical practice.
“I see this as a great opportunity for the benefit of the Lynch syndrome patients. The project will develop a unique biobank for Lynch syndrome patients that will serve as a unique resource for research and understanding of Lynch syndrome for many years to come. We will also, building on our long-standing research, develop effective and scalable early screening tests, based on our contributions to the existing European clinical guidelines towards the goal of precision medicine tailored to each patient,” said Mev Dominguez Valentin, project team leader at the Section of Tumor Biology at the Institute of Cancer Research, Oslo University Hospital.
Trial Design
The project will use an innovative clinical trial design to evaluate several promising non-invasive liquid biopsy-based technologies in the three most common LS cancer types and detect cancer at an early stage.
Artificial intelligence (AI) will also be utilized to identify traces of cancer and to ensure that the methods are applicable in different healthcare systems. In addition, socioeconomic and ethical consequences will be assessed to ensure that the solutions are in line with patients’ and societal needs and are implementable in different healthcare systems.
The long-term ambition is to offer a multi-omics solution for affordable, accessible, and effective testing to ensure early detection in LS patients.
Partner-Overview
