Malignant pleural mesothelioma is a rare, understudied cancer associated with exposure to carcinogenic mineral fibers, jointly known as “asbestos”. Most patients die within two years after diagnosis, mainly due to the limited available therapeutic and early detection opportunities. One of the reasons is the existence of only few molecular studies. Despite the ban of asbestos in many developed countries, the long latency of the disease together with the aging of the population, the increased environmental exposure, and the ongoing use of asbestos mostly in developing countries, among other factors, translates in malignant mesothelioma being an ongoing health problem.

Pulmonary carcinoids, including the low-grade typical carcinoids and the intermediate-grade atypical carcinoids, belong to the group of lung neuroendocrine neoplasms that also includes the high-grade large-cell neuroendocrine lung carcinomas (LCNEC) and small-cell lung cancers (SCLC). It has been widely accepted that well-differentiated pulmonary carcinoids have unique clinico-histopathological traits with no causative relationship or genetic, epidemiologic, or clinical traits in common with poorly-differentiated, high-grade LCNECs and SCLCs. However, several recent studies suggest that a molecular link might exist between these diseases, especially between atypical carcinoids and LCNEC.

The global scientific goal of the panNENomics project is to provide comparative analyses of the main molecular characteristics of understudied neuroendocrine neoplasms of all body sites (including the rare pituitary, head&neck, (para)thyroid, breast, genito-urinary, and skin NENs) and generate molecular maps to inform the clinical decisions in terms of diagnosis, prognosis and treatment. We believe that the setting of this project would provide an environment that promotes collaboration among experts in the field of NENs rather than competition.