What are the basic science and clinical needs for life and disease simulation?
Cancer is a natural phenomenon of paramount importance. Consequently, there is need for both qualitatively and quantitatively describing its behaviour. At the same time a reliable prediction of the likely response of a tumour and the affected normal tissues to candidate therapeutic schemes is expected to considerably support the clinician's decision making process. To this end a host of sciences and technologies have already been recruited and tightly interlinked. Examples include: cancer biology, radiobiology and pathology, cancer bioinformatics, anatomy, clinical and radiotherapeutic oncology, medical physics, pharmacology, image processing, visualization technologies, discrete and continuous mathematics, probability theory, statistics, computer science etc.
What are the clinicians' expectations of the "Oncosimulator"?
The "Oncosimulator" is anticipated to become a powerful approach in achieving optimum individualized treatment for the cancer patient. However, in order to enter the clinical routine at least the following conditions must be strictly satisfied: Reliable pertinent clinicogenomic trials must have been completed before the envisaged introduction of any in silico model to clinical practice. Every in silico prediction must be compared with reality. Clinical needs define the acceptable deviation between prediction and reality.
How will the "Oncosimulator" be validated and optimized?
Within the framework of the ACGT project the "Oncosimulator" to be developed will be adapted to the cases of pediatric nephroblastoma (Wilm's) tumour and breast cancer. The planned clinical validation will be primarily based on pseudoanonymized data to be provided by the University of Saarland, Germany (SIOP 2001/GPOH trial) and Institut Jules Bordet, Belgium (TOP trial), respectively. All European directives and guidelines concerning related legal issues will be strictly respected. It is pointed out that clinical validation of the "Oncosimulator" within the frame of ACGT is a worldwide novelty.
