Old drugs to stop breast cancer metastasis
El Mundo newspaper has published an article on a study by the University of Basel (Switzerland) that has found a way to separate the tumour cells that circulate in blood in groups and to prevent them from forming metastases. In this regard, they include the opinion of Roger Gomis, ICREA researcher at IRB Barcelona: "(This study) allows us to understand how to handle the aggregated cells that initiate the tumour, but now we need more effective and clinically optimal compounds. It is another step in a very fertile field such as the cells in circulation, but we must be realistic in terms of expectations. There is a gulf between what we see in the laboratory and what can be done with patients later on. "
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To mark World Cancer Day, the programme El Matí de Barcelona Betevé broadcasted by Radio Barcelona has interviewed Roger Gomis, ICREA Researcher and head of the Growth Control and Metastasis Lab at IRB Barcelona. During the interview, he talked about metastasis, the process by which a tumour spreads to the rest of the body, allowing cancer cells to adapt to new environments “What we are focusing on in our lab is precisely how this cell adaptation and plasticity comes about,” says Gomis.
The “Preguntas Big Van” section of the newspaper La Vanguardia interviewed Eduard Batlle, ICREA researcher and head of the Colorectal Cancer Lab at IRB Barcelona, about his collaboration with the Centro de Análisis Genómico regarding the study of colorectal tumour samples using the new unicellular analysis method. “This technique allows us to see what is happening inside the tumour at a level of detail that was unimaginable 5 years ago,” says Batlle.
The newspaper ABC has reported on a new project to be launched by IRB Barcelona researcher Roger Gomis thanks to a grant from the Fundación Fero y Mango. Focusing on luminal breast cancer, one of the most common subtypes, the project aims to decipher the “dialogue” between tumour cells and bone stem cells. This information can then be used to design therapeutic targets and to limit the capacity of these cells to metastasize. “This is a groundbreaking approach to tackle metastasis in this kind of cancer,” says Gomis.
