Albacete collaborates with research groups

Albacete looking 'therapies to the letter' in cancer treatment
PROGRESS. Treatment of radiotherapy. THE TRUTH
Achieve 'therapies to the letter' for cancer treatment tailored to the characteristics of each

patient. That is the goal you are working in the Laboratory of Molecular Oncology Regional Center

for Biomedical Research (CRIB) led by Dr. Ricardo Sanchez.

This team has achieved a major breakthrough in research on molecular basis of transformation,

diagnosis and treatment of cancer, as it relates in particular to the role of signalling pathways

acting on the response to chemotherapy and radiotherapy treatments , trying to establish the

value as markers of a group of proteins and analyze how specific the role of these routes as a

means of resistance to the therapy against oncological diseases.

"We are trying to answer a question which is a classic in cancer, which focuses on finding

answers on the reasons why two people with the same tumor, the same age and habits respond or not

chemotherapy treatments with the aim, among others, to avoid in its day and if side effects,

bearing in mind that chemotherapy is a very aggressive therapy with side effects and very toxic.

To answer this question we have focused our research on a group of genes known as signalling that

are responsible for transmitting information from extracellular to intracellular environment,

"said Dr. Sanchez. In this way, are investigating changes in patterns of gene expression, ie stop

expressing genes and start others to do so.

Implication

What will be the implications on a practical level of these findings? The outcome of this

investigation may write to the detection of proteins in the biopsies of patients to medical

oncologists to convey information about what will happen. "If we can determine that a specific

protein will activate, the specialist in Oncology will have more concrete data response in the

treatment of malignant tumors, and implement the procedures and substances most appropriate for

each particular case and remove side effects" said Dr. Sanchez.

He added that the ultimate objective of the research is to "get what we might call a 'therapy to

the letter' because our aim is to determine that based on a series of genetic and biochemical

parameters we predict the patient's response to treatment that it administers, "said Dr. Sanchez.

At present, what is being done is to administer a cocktail of drugs and is the respondent to act

accordingly. "Our research aims, therefore, to avoid this test phase and testing and thus go to

the drug that can operate or have more chances to do so, which represents a gain of time in

treatment of cancer is a very relevant. This is the basis of our scientific study. Now, we have

discovered a protein that is critical to the resistance to therapy for a type of leukemia,

showing that the activation of this protein blocks the effect of the drug. If you translate these

findings into clinical practice, would mean that if detected this protein is not to administer

the drug and also eliminates the side effects, "explained Ricardo Sanchez.

The laboratory Albacete collaborates with research groups such as the Cancer Center of Salamanca

or the Institute for Biomedical Research Madrid and maintains contacts in the United States and

Australia to exchange experiences. we may know whether the proteins with which we are working are good predictive markers of the patient's ....