Awe and anxiety for cancer cells: connecting scientists and patients in a holistic approach of metastasis research.

Metastatic cancer is an aggravated form of cancer, that patients are afraid of. At the same time, cancer researchers are fascinated by this disease. Therefore, there is an apparent gap between how patients and researchers feel about cancer. If researchers wish to be most helpful to cancer patients, it is important to consult the patients and ask what they need and find important. This is also stimulated by agencies that financially support research projects. A possible way to do this is Patient and Public Involvement (PPI), in which not only scientists, but also patients and lay people are asked to provide input. It appears, however, that PPI is scarcely applied in basic science. In this article, we describe how a collaborative network of basic and translational cancer researchers, HOUDINI, intends to include the patients' voice throughout the research progress and actively asked for input from patients, societal partners and physicians at the start of their project. These people discussed what themes they found most important to be researched by HOUDINI. Later, the HOUDINI researchers reflected on this. This example shows how PPI can be applied and how HOUDINI received valuable input for their research goals.