Maio Alessandra, Farina Sara, Osti Tommaso, Di Grande Salvatore, Pastorino Roberta, Boccia Stefania
University Department of Life Science and Public Health, Section of Hygiene, Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, Rome, Italy.
Department of Woman and Child Health and Public Health, Fondazione Policlinico Universitario A. Gemelli IRCCS, Rome, Italy.
Front Public Health. 2025 Aug 12;13:1561328. doi: 10.3389/fpubh.2025.1561328. eCollection 2025.
Non-communicable diseases represent a significant burden on global healthcare, necessitating innovative strategies to enhance prevention and management. Personalized prevention, an emerging approach leveraging omics data to tailor interventions, holds promise for improving risk stratification, early diagnosis, and preventive strategies. To gain insights on the latest funding investments in this field, we mapped European Commission (EC)-funded research projects on personalized prevention for non-communicable diseases.
We carried out a scoping review of gray literature sources, following the Arksey and O'Malley framework, combined with expert consultations to validate findings and address data gaps. Inclusion criteria focused on projects that began or were ongoing in 2024 (from January 1st to December 31st).
We identified 67 projects supported by a total amount of €511.9 million from EC funding. The main programs include Horizon Europe, Horizon 2020, and EU4Health. In particular, Horizon Europe funds 51% of these projects, with a total allocation of €253.8 million, 44% of which specifically address cancer. Overall, 48% of the projects target cancer, followed by neurological and psychiatric diseases (15%), cardiovascular diseases (13%), metabolic disorders (9%), and other NCDs (16%). In terms of prevention levels, 21% of the projects are dedicated to primary prevention, 41% to secondary prevention, and 38% to tertiary prevention.
The EC's investment in personalized prevention is predominantly directed toward cancer, reflecting the goals of the Cancer Mission and the European Beating Cancer Plan. Research on tertiary prevention remains less prominent, likely due to its already established clinical applications, while the emphasis on primary and secondary prevention is reassuring, considering the current gaps in clinical utility evidence in these areas.
非传染性疾病给全球医疗保健带来了巨大负担，因此需要创新策略来加强预防和管理。个性化预防是一种利用组学数据来定制干预措施的新兴方法，有望改善风险分层、早期诊断和预防策略。为了深入了解该领域的最新资金投入情况，我们梳理了欧盟委员会（EC）资助的非传染性疾病个性化预防研究项目。
我们按照阿克西和奥马利框架，对灰色文献来源进行了范围审查，并结合专家咨询来验证研究结果并填补数据空白。纳入标准聚焦于2024年（1月1日至12月31日）启动或正在进行的项目。
我们确定了67个项目，这些项目共获得了欧盟委员会5.119亿欧元的资助。主要项目包括“地平线欧洲”、“地平线2020”和“欧盟健康计划”。特别是，“地平线欧洲”为其中51%的项目提供资金，总拨款为2.538亿欧元，其中44%专门针对癌症。总体而言，48%的项目以癌症为目标，其次是神经和精神疾病（15%）、心血管疾病（13%）、代谢紊乱（9%）以及其他非传染性疾病（16%）。在预防层面上，21%的项目致力于一级预防，41%致力于二级预防，38%致力于三级预防。
欧盟委员会对个性化预防的投资主要针对癌症，这反映了癌症使命和欧洲抗癌计划的目标。三级预防的研究仍然不太突出，可能是因为其临床应用已经确立，而考虑到这些领域目前临床效用证据的差距，对一级和二级预防的重视令人欣慰。
