At the end of August, the REALYSA study recruited its 1,000th French patient with lymphoma. This approach ultimately aims to complete knowledge of the evolution of the disease in the light of sociological, environmental, clinical and biological data.
- Realysa wants to recruit 6,000 lymphoma patients and collect their personal, clinical and environmental data for a maximum of 9 years. However, 2 years after the start of the recruitment campaign, the study has just found its 1,000th participant.
- The incidence of certain lymphomas has been increasing in France in recent years without a clear explanation.
Observing lymphomas to understand them better is the aim of the Realysa program – “Real world data in lymphomas and survival in adults” – which has just recruited its 1,000th participant at the end of August suffering from this cancer of the lymphatic system which controls part of the immune system. A necessity to spur research. “We still know very little about the contextual factors (environmental or social) associated with treatment response and patient survival.“, explains Dr Alain Monnereau, epidemiologist at the National Institute of Health and Medical Research (Inserm) in Bordeaux, and investigator coordinator of the epidemiological part of the study.
Environmental and genetic factors
However, in recent years, the incidence of certain types of lymphoma has increased. The origin of this increase is not always very clear to researchers. “VSsome subtypes of lymphomes are associated with risk factors related to immuhealth (history of autoimmune diseases, for example) such as the lymphomadiffuse large B-cell e or the lymphomaand MALT (which is consistent with the results obtained in the field HIV/AIDS epidemiology or organ transplants) while others have few associations with known risk factors but have more of a genetic origin as demonstrated by the results of recent genome-wide association studies on the chronic lymphocytic leukemia or lymphomae follicularassure the authors of the “National estimates of cancer incidence and mortality in metropolitan France between 1990 and 2018” of July 2019. The existence of risk factors of environmental and proprofessional is also proven. These elements show that it remains a large place for etiological research on these diseases and interactions between environmental and genetic factors.“
Impact on quality of life
To answer these questions, this study – which can last up to 9 years – aims to collect data on personal, medical, environmental, treatment, monitoring and observation factors that could contribute to the onset of the disease. , list the long-term adverse effects of treatments as well as measure the repercussions of lymphoma and treatments on the quality of life relating to the health, personal, family, professional and social life of patients. With this, if the patient agrees, the researchers also hope to take blood samples for “analyze the influence of certain molecules or certain markers on the development of the disease, the response to treatment and the undesirable effects linked to treatment.“Scientists also want to conduct genetic studies to investigate the influence of certain genetic mutations or genetic profiles on patient response to treatment.
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