The aim of INCANCER/CNSd is to understand the pathophysiology of the comorbidities (or multimorbidities) between cancer and central nervous system disorders (CNSd), and to use this information to develop evidence-based treatments, including drug repurposing options, and to draw up clinical practice guidelines and secondary and tertiary prevention programmes aimed at minimising the impact of these comorbidities.

With unprecedented population growth and aging worldwide, cancer and CNS disorders have become two of the most important global public health problems. The solid medical evidence of the interdependences at the population level between some of the diseases from these two groups is the basis for this project proposal (specifically, Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease, Down’s syndrome, Huntington’s disease, multiple sclerosis, autism spectrum disorders and schizophrenia as CNS disorders and lung cancer, colorectal cancer, prostate cancer, melanoma, breast cancer, malignancies of the haemotopoietic and lymphoid tissues and brain cancer). The elucidation of the physiological and molecular basis of the observed cancer/CNSd comorbidities will enable identifying associated drugs and undertaking drug repurposing and pharmacovigilance actions. To ensure the transfer of the consortium knowledge to the society we will build the “Encyclopaedia and Atlas of CANCER/CNSd comorbidities”, and to contribute the effective management of these burdensome health conditions we will organize the “New Directions Forum for CANCER/CNSd comorbidities.”