Preface

The National Cancer Center Research Institute (NCCRI) was established in 1962 as one of the main parts of the National Cancer Center (NCC), and has been driving cancer research in Japan ever since. The NCC was designated a National Research and Development Agency in April 2015. Since then, there has been more demand than ever to promote research and development and to maximize clinical results. To meet such demand, the NCCRI has been collaborating closely with the NCC Hospitals, the Exploratory Oncology Research & Clinical Trial Center (EPOC), the Center for Public Health Sciences, and the Center for Cancer Control and Information Services, and thereby has tried to maximize the transition "from bench to bedside".

In addition to 19 divisions, the NCCRI also contains the Fundamental Innovative Oncology Center (FIOC) which is a core facility for the entire NCC. The FIOC consists of 15 departments, and it runs the NCC BioBank, provides specialized techniques, and also facilitates collaborative work with various private sectors outside the NCC. The NCCRI has 78 research staff, 84 postdoctoral fellows, and 117 graduate students/supporting staff, all of whom are dedicated to a wide range of cancer research including prevention of cancer, elucidating the inter- or intra-tumor heterogeneity, identification of therapeutic targets, and preclinical studies for novel anti-cancer reagents.

Outstanding achievements in 2016 in the NCCRI include the followings:

1)Development of inhibitors against IDH1 mutants, and First-in-Human clinical trials with such compounds

2)Large-scale full genome sequencing for hepatocellular carcinoma

3)Successful trials with vandetanib for RET-fusion-positive lung cancer

4)Proof-of-concept for the methylation level of gastric mucosa genome as a predictive biomarker for gastric cancer

While immuno checkpoint blockades have shown clinical efficacy for a wide range of cancers, it is still unclear whether a given cancer patient well responds to such reagents. To identify useful biomarkers for the reagents, the NCCRI has started the NCC-wide GRIP project, standing for Genomics-driven cancer Research for ImmunoProfiling.

The NCCRI also actively participates in, and leads worldwide cancer research collaborations including the International Cancer Genome Consortium (ICGC) and the International Human Epigenome Consortium (IHEC). We are also collaborating with the Early Detection Research Network (EDRN) of the National Cancer Institute (NCI) of the United States.

As described above, through enhancing high-quality research and interaction with domestic and foreign institutes, the NCCRI is eagerly generating novel modalities to prevent and conquer cancer.

Hiroyuki Mano, M.D., Ph.D.

Director, National Cancer Center Research Institute