On the occasion of World Cancer Day, February 4, 2025, the Institut Curie, in collaboration with the French Alternative Energies and Atomic Energy Commission (CEA), announces the project FRATHEA. This is the “operational launch of a project that is dear to us”, explains Professor Alain Puisieux, Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Curie Institute.
FRATHEA (for “Flash RAdiation THerapy Electron Acceleration”) combines Flash radiotherapy, an innovative radiotherapy method consisting of administering a very high dose of radiation to a precise area in a record time of less than 100 milliseconds, and VHEE (“Very High Energy Electrons”).
Thus, the combination of these two technologies, ultra-fast radiotherapy and particle acceleration, aims to accelerate treatments, by reducing the length and number of radiotherapy sessions, while protecting patients' healthy cells as much as possible. For Professor Alain Puisieux, this project " implements an innovative technological approach for the patient”.
What is radiotherapy?
There radiotherapy is a method of destroying cancer cells by using radiation to block their ability to multiply. The aim of this method is also to preserve healthy tissue as much as possible. Each year in France, more than 190,000 patients are treated with radiotherapy, according to theNational Cancer Institute.
Read also: The Curie Institute is banking on Flash radiotherapy against incurable cancers
Conventional radiotherapy "seems to be reaching its limits"
Why use very high energy electrons? “These are robust and controlled particles”, says Professor Gilles Créhange, head of the oncological radiotherapy department at the Curie Institute and coordinator of the FRATHEA project. In addition, for the treatment of deep tumors, these particles have advantageous biological and physical properties. Indeed, combined with Flash radiotherapy, they make it possible to precisely reach deep tumors. These tumors are, for the most part, hitherto inaccessible by simple radiotherapy, " which today seems to be reaching its limits", adds Gilles Créhange.
How Flash radiotherapy works combined with the very high energy electron beam (VHEE) irradiator. Credits: Institut Curie
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First clinical trials from 2028
In the short term, the goal of the FRATHEA project is to set up in 2026 on the hospital site of the Curie Institute, in Orsay, and to launch the first clinical trials by 2028. In the longer term, according to Professor Gilles Créhange, " The ambition of this project is to be able to cure more patients with serious cancers with fewer after-effects, fewer side effects and less treatment difficulty.
Indeed, the goal here is to be able to treat patients with cancers that are misdiagnosed, incurable, or difficult to treat, such as lung, brain, or pancreatic cancers. The treatment of childhood cancers is also part of the ambitions of this project. "It could even reduce the after-effects of radiotherapy treatment, particularly in children, to enable them to heal better, age better and grow better.", concludes Gilles Créhange,
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