Annual Report 2019
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 outputs. To meet this demand, the NCCRI has been collaborating closely with the NCC Hospital, Hospital East, the Exploratory Oncology Research & Clinical Trial Center, the Center for Public Health Sciences, the Center for Cancer Control and Information Services, and the Center for Cancer Genomics and Advanced Therapeutics, and has thereby sought to maximize the transition “from bench to bedside”.
At present, in addition to 19 Divisions and five independent Research Units, the NCCRI also contains the Fundamental Innovative Oncology Center (FIOC), which is a core facility for the entire NCC. The FIOC consists of 13 Departments, and it runs the NCC BioBank, provides specialized techniques, and also facilitates collaborative work with various private sector organizations outside the NCC. As of March 2020, the NCCRI has 91 research staff, 76 postdoctoral fellows and 181 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 diagnostic and therapeutic targets, and development of novel anti-cancer strategies.
Outstanding achievements in 2019 in the NCCRI include the following:
1) Approval of the cancer genome panel test “OncoGuideTM NCC Oncopanel System” for the Japanese national health insurance system
2) Development of the first cancer genome panel test in Japan for hematological malignancies
3) Elucidation of the comprehensive picture of the human cancer genome through the Pan-Cancer Analysis of Whole Genomes Consortium Project
4) Identification of the gut microbiota related to colon carcinogenesis based on metagenomic and metabolomic analyses
5) Elucidation of carcinogenic mechanisms caused by aging
In collaboration with NCC hospitals, the NCCRI has established the J-PDX library, which contains more than 300 patient-derived xenografts (PDXs) from clinical specimens, and promoted collaborative studies with industry and academia using the library. Furthermore, in collaboration with the Center for Cancer Genomics and Advanced Therapeutics, the NCCRI is supporting cancer genomic medicine in Japan, and is constructing a system for the whole genome analysis of cancer.
The NCCRI also actively participates in and leads worldwide cancer research collaborations including the International Cancer Genome Consortium (ICGC), International Human Epigenome Consortium (IHEC) and International Cancer Proteogenome Consortium (ICPC). We are also collaborating with the Early Detection Research Network (EDRN) of the National Cancer Institute (NCI) in the United States. Furthermore, the NCCRI has continued collaborative research to elucidate the carcinogenic mechanism of various cancers with The Wellcome Sanger Institute in the United Kingdom and the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IRAC, WHO).
As described above, through enhancing high-quality research and interaction with other 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