The funded project will address the development of metastasis in breast cancer.
The grant, which is specifically for research into breast cancer, has been given by the foundation, in collaboration with Mango.
Fero is a private foundation that promotes translational cancer research in Spain.
The Fundación Fero, an organisation devoted to furthering cancer research, with the collaboration of Mango, has awarded ICREA researcher Roger Gomis, head of the Growth Control and Metastasis Laboratory at the Institute for Research in Biomedicine (IRB Barcelona), funding for his project “Identification of the pro-metastatic properties of the fibroblasts derived from MSCs in luminal breast cancer”.
For the 17th Fero Grants in Translational Cancer Research, the foundation has awarded two €80,000-grants, one of which has been given to Gomis’ project, which addresses the development of breast cancer metastasis.
The grants were presented last night in one of two yearly charity events organised by the foundation in Madrid and, once again, under the auspices of Andbank.
The research headed by Gomis focuses on luminal breast cancer—one of the most common subtypes of breast cancer—in which metastasis occurs mainly to the bone. This kind of cancer can cause metastasis after many years of remission and can lead to rapid death.
“In recent years, it has been observed that tumour cells that cause metastasis in this kind of cancer possibly interact with fibroblasts derived from MSCs in the bone. These interactions have effects on the tumour, and they may underlie metastasis relapse and condition the response to systemic therapies,” said the scientist.
“Our project aims to unravel these interactions, to identify therapeutic targets and to limit the capacity of these cells to cause metastasis,” explained Gomis.
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.
The newspapers El Mundo, La Vanguardia and Diari Ara, the TV station TV3 and the radio stationsCatalunya Ràdio andRAC1, among other media, have echoed on a study by the Biomedical Genommics lab, headed by Núria López, published in Nature Genetics. The study has for the first time determined the genetic mutations caused by various therapies used to treat cancer.
Scientists at IRB Barcelona determine the genetic alterations in the cells of cancer patients caused by the main cancer therapies.
This is an important step towards understanding the long-term side effects and optimizing treatments against cancer.
The results have been published in the journal Nature Genetics.
