KWF has allocated money for two project of Hanneke van Laarhoven, head of the Department of Medical Oncology. An impressive 1.8 million euros will go to the TRAP-2 study. Van Laarhoven: "This is a multi-center translational study in the Netherlands in which we are developing biomarkers to predict at an early stage the effect of drugs - trastuzumab and pertuzumab - for people with esophageal cancer treated with chemotherapy and radiation. We are already doing the randomized trial, TRAP-2. This is to see if administering these drugs with chemotherapy and radiation gives better results than chemotherapy and radiation alone. With the funding from KWF, we want to better understand why this treatment does or does not work."
Quality of life
Van Laarhoven also received over a million euros for research into the effect of an exercise and diet intervention on the quality of life in patients with incurable esophageal and gastric cancer. The researcher is also very enthusiastic: "There is virtually no good research to be found to support advice on nutrition and exercise specifically for people with metastatic esophageal and gastric cancer. And you don't want to burden people with diet and exercise advice if it's not working. Overall, we do know that in patients with cancer, eating enough protein and exercising can help. At the same time we know that this is difficult for patients to put into practice. Does it help if you guide people properly with a physical therapist and offer support from a dietician? Do they then start to feel fitter and get a better quality of life? That's what we're going to investigate."
The other KWF funded projects of APH researchers are:
Hans Knoop (Professor of Medical Psychology) has received more than €300k for his project TIRELESS: Making cognitive behavioral therapy for cancer fatigue appropriate for implementation in patients with cancer in the palliative phase.
Ellen Smets (Professor of Medical Psychology) has received more than half a million euros for her project on ‘tailored information for every patient’.
Markus Hollmann (Professor in Anesthesiology) has received €261k for the SPACE-PAIN pilot study: ‘Psilocybin as a treatment for chemotherapy-induced nerve pain’.
More information on the KWF funding and other projects can be found on the KWF website (in Dutch), or at Amsterdam UMC (in Dutch).
KiKa funding
Martha Grootenhuis (Professor of Pediatric Psycho-Oncology at Utrecht University and Prinses Maxima Centrum) and Lotte Haverman (Research Associate, Paediatric Psychosocial Care at Amsterdam UMC) have been awarded €470k to improve measuring quality of life through a new kind of questionnaire.
More information on the KiKa funding and the other projects can be found on the KiKa website (in Dutch).