Abstract

With over 3 million new cases and 1.5 million arising deaths each year in Europe, cancer is a major public health problem with an urgent need for new therapies. This proposal builds upon mounting evidence that ion channels and transporters underlie many of the hallmarks of cancer. Thus, proteins involved in membrane transport, long known as important drug targets in other pathologies (channelopathies), are a new class of therapeutic and/or diagnostic targets in oncology. IonTraC is first to propose a systematic analysis of the expression, function, as well as therapeutic and diagnostic potential of proteins involved in ion transport (the 'transportome') in cancer. This paradigm will be implemented in pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) which has one of the worst prognoses of all cancers, with an overall 5-year survival rate of less than 5%. IonTraC thereby provides the framework for an inter- and supra-disciplinary training for early stage researchers in a highly innovative, exponentially growing field in oncology which will have a major impact on other disciplines such as immunology and angiology as well. The main objectives of IonTraC are: • to provide a scientific and methodological platform for supra-disciplinary training of early stage researchers in and beyond the fields of ion transport and oncology • to provide an inter-sectoral training programme with special focus on career development of young researchers • to determine the concerted expression and function of ion channels and transporters required for the progression of PDAC, and • to provide validated therapeutic and diagnostic concepts and tools that are based on transport proteins serving as novel drug targets and/or biomarkers.