On the 9^th International Rare Disease Day, which will be held on 29 February next, many events will be organised in over 80 countries to raise awareness among the general public, health professionals and politicians about the characteristics of these diseases, their impacts and the means to manage and treat them.

This year, the campaign initiated by EURORDIS revolves around the theme of “Patient Voice,” in order to highlight the crucial role of patients, who by expressing their needs, encourage the necessary changes, and help to improve the daily lives of patients and their families.

Rare diseases are extremely diverse (neuromuscular, metabolic, infectious and autoimmune diseases, rare cancers), and are often serious and chronic. Although each of these diseases affects a limited number of people (fewer than one in 2,000 people), there are, however, 6,000–8,000 rare diseases. Nearly 3 million people in France, and nearly 30 million in Europe are thus affected by rare diseases.

Orphanet, a reference portal on rare diseases coordinated by Inserm, and a member of the Rare Disease Platform, offers open access to many services in order to enable patients to understand their disease and its consequences, to guide them through the care pathway, especially by identifying diagnostic laboratories and centres of reference, and to help them break out of their isolation by facilitating access to patient associations.

Initiated by UICC (Union for International Cancer Control), World Cancer Day will take place on 4 February, to make the general public more aware of ways to prevent and manage the disease.

This international campaign is a reminder of the seriousness of cancer, a major cause of death worldwide, leading to 8.2 million deaths in 2012.[1] According to WHO, the annual number of new cases is expected to rise from 14 million in 2012 to 22 million in the next two decades.

In France, cancer is the leading cause of mortality, with 320,000 new cases and 145,000 deaths each year.[2]

Inserm researchers devote themselves to cancer research on a year-round basis, in order to reduce the mortality associated with the disease, reverse its incidence and gravity, and improve patient care.

The members of the “Immunology of Tumours and Immunotherapy” team from Inserm Unit 1015 have focused on the role of intestinal bacteria in alleviating side-effects and increasing the efficacy of an immunotherapy in oncology. Their work shows that the intestinal flora dictates the therapeutic response, offering attractive opportunities for treatment.

See press release “The intestinal flora as a complement to immunotherapy in oncology”.

Elsewhere, the researchers from the Stress and Cancer team (Inserm/Institut Curie), designated by the French National Cancer League, and directed by Fatima Mechta-Grigoriou, have taken a new step towards identifying a targeted therapy for women with an aggressive form of ovarian cancer.

See press release “Ovarian cancer: A promising approach for treating the most aggressive forms using targeted therapy”.

[1] Source: WHO

[2] Source: Inserm

Interest in the intestinal microbiota, or intestinal flora, has grown considerably in recent years. In 2015, over 4,500 scientific studies on the subject were published in PubMed.

The intestinal microbiota is an ecosystem made up of 100,000 billion bacteria that colonise our digestive tract from the time we are born. Each host has his/her own unique intestinal flora. The composition of this flora depends on genetic, nutritional and environmental factors, and can change in the course of a lifetime.

Throughout the year, Inserm researchers are involved in research on the microbiota, which constitutes one of the three main cross-cutting scientific programmes in Inserm’s strategic plan for 2016-2020.

Recent studies have thus focused on the effects of the microbiota on health, and have revealed its role in autoimmune diseases, such as type 1 diabetes, as well as its role in the regulation of iron in the body, and in the success of immunotherapy in oncology.

For your interviews and reporting needs, see the ”Microbiota press-kit,” available as a download opposite, for a listing of the contact details of specialists in this discipline, together with the latest news from Inserm on the subject.