National Center for Tumor Diseases (NCT) – Bringing Together Research and Patients

Using research to directly benefit patients: The National Center for Tumor Diseases (NCT) accelerates the transfer of scientific findings into clinical practice. To help make that happen, the German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ) works together with university hospitals and research institutes across Germany. On the part of the Helmholtz Association, the DKFZ, Max Delbrück Center in Berlin, and Helmholtz-Zentrum Dresden-Rossendorf are among the NCT’s 28 partner institutes.

The Center operates several different sites: The NCT Heidelberg was founded in 2004, with Dresden joining it in 2015. In 2023, as part of the National Decade Against Cancer, the Federal Ministry of Research expanded the NCT sites with new additions in Berlin, “SüdWest” (Tübingen-Stuttgart and Ulm), “WERA” (Würzburg and its partners Erlangen, Regensburg and Augsburg) and “West” (Essen and Cologne).

The expansion of the NCT, supported by research institutes in the Helmholtz Association, is intended to provide patients with rapid and fair access to clinical studies on the latest innovations in diagnostics and treatment. To help make that happen, the NCT partners in Germany collaborate intensively; experts from medicine and research work hand in hand. This approach has yielded the only structure of its kind in Germany, one that ensures findings from basic research make their way into clinical practice as soon as possible.

In this regard, Investigator-Initiated Trials (IITs) are the “motor” of the NCT: non-commercial, research-driven clinical studies. IITs, which are essential to clinical research and improving treatment options, are the direct result of research practice. The NCT secures funding for these innovative studies.

Further, the NCT considers patient participation to be an integral component of research – patients are involved in all stages of the research process, from the concept and planning of clinical studies, to the assessment of outcomes. This is ensured in part by the NCT Patient Research Council, which, as the national voice of patients, works closely together with the local representatives of NCT sites. The NCT Patient Expert Academy (NCT PEAK) offers support for and promotes networking between patient representatives, as does the annual national conference “Patients as Partners in Cancer Research” – within the NCT and far beyond.

Picture: Petra Arnold