[From fundamental research to translational research in oncology]

The present article emphasizes the crucial importance of fundamental research and translational research in oncology. These two approaches are complementary and open new perspectives for future anti-cancer therapies in clinical practice.

[Immune-related adverse events]

Immunotherapy has revolutionized cancer management in recent years and is affecting more and more patients. Immunotherapy side effects are specific, immune-related, and their early recognition and management are essential. Here we describe the main adverse effects of immunotherapy and their general principles of management.

[Well-being center in CHU of Liege : interest for oncological patients and their families]

Although conventional medicine has made considerable progress in the treatment of cancer, this disease remains a distressing experience for patients who may feel they are losing control of their live. In response to this need for autonomy over their therapeutic choices and their health, some patients turn to complementary and alternative medicine. Some oncology care centres therefore complete their offer of care by providing patients with a well-being centre where activities focusing on the well-being and comfort of the person are offered. In order to ensure that the needs of people are met, a survey was carried out among 82 patients attending the oncology day hospital and the radiotherapy department. The results enabled us to establish an action plan in line with the patients' wishes with a view to creating a well-being centre named OASIS, which will be located in the heart of the Arsène Burny Cancer Institute at the CHU of Liège. The different activities organised around psycho/corporal and bodily/psychological axes are presented in this article.

[The contribution of «Télévie» and the «Léon Fredericq Foundation» to the fundamental cancer research in Liège]

Télévie and the Léon Fredericq Foundation support many research projects in the CHU of Liège and the ULiège. This paper summarizes some projects aiming at a better knowledge of the basic mechanisms leading to cancer development, of the immune defenses against tumours, of specific characteristics of some cancer types and, finally, of strategies for improving quality of life of patients whose fertility has been threatened by anti-cancer treatments.

[The Arsène Burny Cancer Institute (ICAB) and its new building for the Integrated Oncology Center (CIO) at the CHU de Liège]

The Arsène Burny Cancer Institute (ICAB) of the CHU de Liège is the reference university medical center, open to its environment, dedicated to cancer care. Transversality, academic expertise, quality of care and direct links with research are at the heart of this ambitious achievement, which is much more than a building. The Integrated Center of Oncology (CIO) is the new ICAB building, dedicated to outpatient cancer care and high performance technical platforms such as radiotherapy with its Cyberknife, oncology imaging with its radiopharmacy, the Laboratory of Cell and Gene Therapy, the Liège University Hospital Biobank, or the laboratories grouped together within Unilab, while hospitalizations remain in the existing towers of the CHU.

[Paraneoplastic neurological syndromes]

Neurological paraneoplastic syndromes are non-metastatic complications of systemic cancers, often resulting from an immune response triggered by the crossed expression of neuronal antigens by tumour cells. Several neurological syndromes such as cerebellar degeneration, sensory neuronopathy, limbic encephalitis, encephalomyelitis or the Lambert-Eaton myasthenic syndrome are most often paraneoplastic and require prompt cancer screening, particularly if the patient shows risk factors for cancer. Although there are many exceptions to this rule, a given syndrome is often associated with a particular antibody and the corresponding tumour. A prompt diagnosis of neurological paraneoplastic syndrome is of major importance as it often reveals the underlying tumour. The treatment relies on both the elimination of the neoplasia and the control of the immune response.

[Cardio-oncology, why is it a new specialty ?]

Cardio-oncology is a new interdisciplinary specialty that has emerged over the past ten years. With the development of increasingly potent cancer therapies which improve cancer survival, but at the cost of cardiovascular toxicity, the demand for specialized cardio-oncology services has emerged. Also, cardiovascular diseases are more common and more serious in cancer patients than in the general population. Cardio-oncology focuses on the prevention, detection, monitoring, and treatment of cardiovascular diseases in cancer patients, mostly those occurring as a side effect of chemo- and radiotherapy.

[Environment and cancer : not easy to dissect the exposome !]

Environment contains numerous potentially toxic substances among which certain have demonstrated to be carcinogenic. They can reach the human organism mainly through the repiratory or digestive routes. Even if it is not always easy to demonstrate a causal relationship in observational studies whose interpretation is limited by numerous confounding factors, some compounds from the environment are clearly associated with a higher risk of cancers. The present article describes the effects of both outdoor and indoor air pollution, pesticides, some endocrine disruptors and radiations. The identification of environmental factors associated with a higher risk of cancer allows implement eradication strategies and thereby efficacious prevention.

[Organisation of cancer care during the COVID-19 pandemic : experience from CHU Liège]

The COVID-19 pandemic has had a major impact in the world of Oncology. Surprised by the rapidity of the extension of the pandemic, the oncological department had to be reorganised in a very short time period in a hospital which had the primary objective to treat infected patients. The author describes how with the help of an international network and local research projects all efforts have been done to offer the best patient's care in a secure environment.

[Evolution of systemic anti-cancer therapies]

Before the advent of chemotherapy in the 1940s, cancer treatment was dominated by surgery and radiation therapy. The developments of targeted anti-cancer therapies in the 2000s followed by immunotherapy have largely changed the treatment landscape in particular in the metastatic setting. Here we provide a history of these advances.

[Epidemiology of childhood cancer, a single-center study (1985-2016)]

Cancer is the second leading cause of death among children aged 5 to 14, after accidents. We conducted a study on the epidemiology of childhood cancer in the university pediatric oncology department of the CHU-CHR in Liège, Belgium. We studied a cohort of 662 patients between the ages of 0 and 17 whose malignancy diagnosis was made between 1985 and 2016. The analyzes were performed retrospectively using medical files. The number of new cases, the proportion of different cancers, sex ratio, age at diagnosis and survival at 5 and 10 years were the epidemiological factors studied.We have been able to show an increase in the number of new diagnoses per year. More than 40 % of childhood cancers occur before the age of five. The most common neoplasias are leukemias, tumors of the central nervous system and lymphomas. This distribution is influenced by age. All malignant tumours combined, we observed a slightly larger proportion of affected boys than girls. Overall survival at 5 years reaches 80.2 %. However, it varies according to the type of tumour from 59.3 % for malignant soft tissue tumors up to 100 % for hepatoblastomas.