CANTO

Every year, more than 50,000 women develop breast cancer in France. They are given appropriate treatment to fight the disease, but these treatments can have toxic effects, in the more or less long term. This is why it is important to identify and prevent side effects, in order to improve women’s quality of life, during and after cancer.

The CANTO (CANcer TOxicities) study is a so-called cohort study, i.e. it aims to follow a large number of people over the long term. CANTO will follow more than 12,000 women treated for breast cancer for ten years.

The aim of CANTO is to quantify and prevent chronic toxicities linked to treatments (surgery, radiotherapy, hormone therapy, etc.). Its aim is to improve the quality of life of women treated for localized breast cancer by preventing the toxic effects of treatment.

Now that we are curing more and more women, we need to ensure that they can live with the best possible quality of life by preventing possible toxicities and after-effects related to treatment

Pr. Fabrice André – Gustave Roussy

CANTO’s objectives

  • To develop a database collecting information prospectively on chronic toxicities reported by 12,000 patients treated for localised breast cancer.
  • To analyse the data by describing the chronic toxicities, their incidence, their biological characteristics and their clinical manifestations
  • To assess the social impact of these chronic toxicities on the quality of life of patients and the economic impact on the burden of cancer management
  • To identify biological markers linked to the development of toxicities and thus develop tests capable of identifying a population at high risk of developing these late side effects

CANTO conferences

Every two years, a results day is organised. This is an opportunity for the participating women and their relatives to learn about the latest results of the study and to meet the experts.

About the study

The study is promoted by Unicancer, the only French hospital network 100% dedicated to the fight against cancer, grouping the 18 Cancer Centres. The database collecting the study information is hosted by Unicancer.

The study is coordinated by Prof. Fabrice André, oncologist and Director of Research at Gustave Roussy, Villejuif. Plasma and serum samples are centralized in the Biological Resource Centre of Gustave Roussy.


Blood samples are centralised and processed in the Biological Resource Centre of the Léon Bérard Centre.


The George François Leclerc Centre coordinates the statistical analyses and enters the questionnaires (paper format).er).


Neuropsychological assessments are coordinated by the François Baclesse Centre.

The study is financed via the Grand emprunt, as part of the Investissement d’Avenir


The study is supported by the Ligue Nationale Contre le Cancer.

For further information

To learn more, visit CANTO website

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Download the CANTO brochure

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