4th FERO Project – MANGO (Breast Cancer) – Dr. Maria Muñoz Caffarel

With the support of the 4th FERO–Mango project, Dr. Caffarel’s research team at IIS Biogipuzkoa will evaluate blocking the IL1RAP protein as a new therapeutic strategy for advanced triple-negative breast cancer. IL1RAP is part of the interleukin 1 (IL1) receptor and is an important protein in the inflammatory microenvironment of tumors. Chronic inflammation contributes significantly to tumor progression, and cytokines and interleukins are messages sent from one cell to another that orchestrate this process. Many tumors depend on IL1 cytokine signaling for their growth and to develop resistance to chemotherapy and targeted therapies. In addition, many tumors show very high levels of the IL1RAP protein. The hypothesis of this project is that blocking IL1RAP may be an effective therapeutic strategy for advanced triple-negative breast cancer by inhibiting tumor-promoting inflammation. The project therefore aims to investigate how this protein promotes tumor progression and affects the tumor microenvironment, and how antibodies that block IL1RAP (already being evaluated in clinical trials) can prevent these processes.