- South Korea warns of 'decisive' action against trash balloons
- Football Australia names Tony Popovic as Socceroos coach
- Japan quake, flood victim attempts fresh start with wife's memory
- Japan quake, flood victim attemps fresh start with wife's memory
- Asian markets extend gains as focus turns to US inflation
- Six dead after floods in central Japan: media
- Australian golf prodigy suffers career-threatening eye injury
- Gaza hospital a symbol of the ruin of war
- October 7: how Israel's deadliest day unfolded
- Bibles, sneakers, silver coins: Trump's merch for sale
- Met Opera opens season with tech-heavy 'Grounded'
- Colombia's Inirida flower: from 'weed' to emblem for UN meeting
- Colombia rebel group imposes control in restive coca zone
- Rams fight back to upset 49ers, Cowboys lose again
- Sri Lankan leftist leader to take office after landslide election win
- 300-kilo WWI bomb removed in Belgrade
- Zelensky in US to explain war plan to Biden, Harris, Trump
- 'Atrocious' Sudan war pushing refugees further afield: UNHCR chief
- 'Convergence' growing on global plastics treaty: UN environment chief
- MLB White Sox fall to Padres to match one-season loss mark
- All-Australian Ripper squad captures LIV Golf team crown
- Barnier promises compromise from France's embattled new govt
- Zelensky arrives in US to explain war plan to Biden
- Barca rout Villarreal but Ter Stegen hurt, Atletico draw at Rayo
- Darnold shines for Vikings, Steelers and Eagles win
- Atletico held to draw at Rayo Vallecano
- Marseille stun Lyon with 95th-minute winner after early red card
- Gabbia ends AC Milan's derby pain with late winner against Inter
- Surging Ko claims LPGA Queen City crown in spectacular style
- 'Impossible': Alcaraz shoots down Federer comparisons after Laver Cup win
- Scholz's party beats far-right AfD in east German state vote
- Verstappen says 'silly' swearing row could hasten F1 exit
- Calls for Israel and Hezbollah to step back from the abyss
- Israel and Hezbollah urged to avoid 'catastrophe'
- Colombia battles fires as drought fuels Latin American flames
- Pressure piles on new French government from day one
- Arteta proud as Arsenal salvage point from 'impossible' task
- Barca rout Villarreal in thriller but Ter Stegen hurt
- Roma stroll past Udinese as fans protest De Rossi sacking
- Horschel outduels McIlroy to win PGA Championship play-off
- Audiences summon 'Beetlejuice' to top of N. America box office for third week
- Stones salvages point for Man City against 10-man Arsenal
- Egypt fears 'all out' regional war: foreign minister to AFP
- Last-gasp Boniface gives Leverkusen victory, Stuttgart outclass Dortmund
- Scholz's party beats far-right AfD in east German state vote: projections
- Olympic champion Evenepoel retains world title in 'toughest time trial'
- Horschel's eagle beats McIlroy in PGA Championship play-off
- Mourners at commander's funeral express loyalty to Hezbollah
- Norris hails his 'mega' McLaren after dominant win at Singapore
- Monaco beat Le Havre to join PSG at the top of Ligue 1
The search to discover why 'outliers' survive deadliest cancers
When Herve found out he had glioblastoma -- the most aggressive form of brain cancer -- at the age of 40, he made a deal with himself.
"I said to myself: it is serious, but you are at war -- and you're going to win," the French teacher, who did not want to give his surname, told AFP.
"For my wife and children, I forbade myself to die."
Eight years later, following surgery to remove the tumour, radiotherapy and chemotherapy, Herve is still winning his war.
He is just one of the thousands of people across the world to have survived an extremely deadly cancer for which there is no known cure.
Herve eagerly volunteered for research being conducted by a biotech start-up aiming to find out what makes these exceptional cases different, in the hope of reproducing their unlikely tales of survival on a grand scale.
"We call them outliers," said Nicolas Wolikow, the CEO and co-founder of the Paris-based firm Cure51.
"For unknown reasons, when these people face an illness they take a completely different trajectory from other people," he told AFP.
The start-up is working on creating "the first global clinical and molecular database of exceptional survivors" of cancer, according to its website.
The project will involve patients who lived for more than three or five years after being diagnosed with three of the deadliest cancers: glioblastoma, metastatic pancreatic cancer and small cell lung cancer.
"They are very aggressive cancers for which real new treatments have not been developed over the last 15 years," Wolikow said.
Yet the rare few -- tens of thousands of people worldwide -- still defy what for most would be a death sentence. The question is why.
- Search for 'molecular signature' -
One problem has been that almost all research has been based on North American or Western European patients, Wolikow said.
So the firm has partnered with 50 cancer centres around the world to get data from a wider variety of survivors.
So far, the firm has found 1,300 patients to be part of the project.
Once the data is collected "we will begin analysing medical reports, images, tumour cells," Wolikow said.
The patients will also fill out questionnaires about their lifestyle, sleep, diet and the roles of people around them.
Algorithms deploying artificial intelligence will also be used to seek out the patients' common traits, comparing them to those of people who succumbed to their cancer.
On Wednesday, Cure51 announced it has raised 15 million euros ($16 million) for the project. Eventually, it hopes to be financed through collaborations with other biotech firms or pharmaceutical labs.
Olivia Le Saux, an oncologist in the French city of Lyon who is supervising the project, said the team was hoping to discover a "molecular signature which would explain the exceptional survival of these patients".
The ultimate goal is to create new drugs or treatments that mimic the molecular characteristics of those few who do survive these killer cancers.
For Herve, there was some satisfaction in seeing the surprise on the face of his doctor when his tumour kept failing to return in his regular MRI scans.
"At each appointment I could see the relief on his face," said the teacher in southeastern French department of Isere.
So Herve has happy to volunteer for the Cure51 project.
"I am well aware of having extraordinary luck," he said.
"I told myself that if I wanted to make a contribution, now was the time."
P.Silva--AMWN