TY - JOUR T1 - EUELC project: a multi-centre, multipurpose study to investigate early stage NSCLC, and to establish a biobank for ongoing collaboration JF - European Respiratory Journal JO - Eur Respir J SP - 1477 LP - 1486 DO - 10.1183/09031936.00077809 VL - 34 IS - 6 AU - J. K. Field AU - T. Liloglou AU - A. Niaz AU - J. Bryan AU - J. R. Gosney AU - T. Giles AU - C. Brambilla AU - E. Brambilla AU - A. Vesin AU - J-F. Timsit AU - P. Hainaut AU - Y. Martinet AU - J. M. Vignaud AU - F. B. Thunnissen AU - C. Prinsen AU - P. J. Snijders AU - E. F. Smit AU - G. Sozzi AU - L. Roz AU - A. Risch AU - H. D. Becker AU - J. S. Elborn AU - N. D. Magee AU - L. M. Montuenga AU - M. J. Pajares AU - M. D. Lozano AU - K. J. O'Byrne AU - D. J. Harrison AU - J. Niklinski AU - A. Cassidy AU - the EUELC Collaborators Y1 - 2009/12/01 UR - http://erj.ersjournals.com/content/34/6/1477.abstract N2 - The European Early Lung Cancer (EUELC) project aims to determine if specific genetic alterations occurring in lung carcinogenesis are detectable in the respiratory epithelium. In order to pursue this objective, nonsmall cell lung cancer (NSCLC) patients with a very high risk of developing progressive lung cancer were recruited from 12 centres in eight European countries: France, Germany, southern Ireland, Italy, the Netherlands, Poland, Spain and the UK. In addition, NSCLC patients were followed up every 6 months for 36 months. A European Bronchial Tissue Bank was set up at the University of Liverpool (Liverpool, UK) to optimise the use of biological specimens. The molecular–pathological investigations were subdivided into specific work packages that were delivered by EUELC Partners. The work packages encompassed mutational analysis, genetic instability, methylation profiling, expression profiling utilising immunohistochemistry and chip-based technologies, as well as in-depth analysis of FHIT and RARβ genes, the telomerase catalytic subunit hTERT and genotyping of susceptibility genes in specific pathways. The EUELC project engendered a tremendous collaborative effort, and it enabled the EUELC Partners to establish protocols for assessing molecular biomarkers in early lung cancer with the view to using such biomarkers for early diagnosis and as intermediate end-points in future chemopreventive programmes. SERIES “LUNG CANCER” Edited by C. Brambilla Number 9 in this Series ER -