Precision Oncology and Lung Cancer: how sport-funded research is changing therapeutic perspectives

The deadliest enemy has a precise name: NSCLC

Lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer-related death worldwide, among both men and women. Despite decades of research and advances in therapies such as immunotherapy and targeted therapy, five-year survival rates remain dramatically low. This is not a defeat: it is the starting point for those who decide to run — literally — to change things.

Strongers Social Club ETS has chosen to focus every fundraising effort on a precise target: non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), the most common form of lung cancer. A scientific choice, not a random one, guided by the expertise of the Scientific Committee and the network of young researchers who every year submit their projects to the Strongers For Research grant programme.

Precision oncology: hitting the molecular target

One of the most promising fronts in NSCLC research is targeted therapy, which acts on specific molecular alterations of the tumour. Among the most studied is the ALK gene mutation: inhibitor drugs such as ALK-TKIs block the protein that stimulates tumour growth, with initially extraordinary results.

But cancer is an adversary that adapts. As explained in the review by Jaime L. Schneider, Jessica J. Lin and Alice T. Shaw (Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School), published in Nature Cancer in 2023, ALK-positive tumours can develop new mutations, become resistant to drugs and resume growing. The so-called compound mutations — combined mutations — can emerge even after just a few months of treatment with the latest-generation inhibitors, making continuous research updates essential.

This is where precision oncology comes into play: not a universal cure, but a personalised and ever-evolving response to each patient's molecular profile.

Strongers For Research: the numbers behind those who run and fund

In 2024, Strongers Social Club ETS launched the first edition of the Strongers For Research grant programme, aimed at young medical researchers under 40 working on lung cancer. The numbers speak for themselves:

• 13 applications received from across Italy
• 3 projects selected by the Scientific Committee
• €8,700 awarded (3 × €2,900)
• Applications open: 6 September 2024 | Deadline: 31 October 2024

Small grants, big ambitions. The mini-grants do not fund Big Pharma: they fund young, independent researchers — the ones who most often struggle to secure resources through traditional channels.

A changing horizon: AACR data through to 2050

The projections from the AACR Cancer Progress Report 2024 are a wake-up call no one can ignore: global cancer cases could rise from 20 million in 2022 to 35.3 million by 2050, with deaths potentially doubling from 9.7 to 18.5 million. This is not alarmism: it is about understanding how urgent it is to invest today in tomorrow's research.

Strongers responds to this urgency with the tool it knows best: sport as a vehicle for solidarity. Every kilometre covered, every race completed, every bib worn with the Strongers jersey is a tangible contribution to a research ecosystem that cannot afford to wait.

Running has a purpose. A scientific one, too.

The road from the athletics track to the molecular oncology laboratory is shorter than it seems. Research into ALK-TKI resistance, studies on the molecular biology of NSCLC, the tumour's immune evasion mechanisms: all of this costs time, equipment, and minds free to work without the anxiety of missing funding.

Strongers Social Club ETS exists to bridge that gap — with the lightness of those who run and the seriousness of those who know what is at stake. If you too want to be part of this team, the next step is yours.