X FERO Grant – Dr. Beatriz Morancho

The immune system is capable of recognizing and eliminating tumor cells, although some of them are able to evade this recognition and survive. One of the most promising strategies in the development of new anti-tumor therapies is to enhance this recognition by creating physical contacts between immune cells and cancer cells to facilitate the death of the latter, through the use of bispecific antibodies (TCBs).

The project sought to identify biomarkers of sensitivity and resistance to two bispecific antibodies, one recognizing p95HER2 and the other CEA, focusing on breast cancer and colon cancer respectively. It was demonstrated that p95HER2-TCB has a potent anti-tumor effect and it was defined which patients could benefit from this treatment, currently in preclinical phase. Furthermore, since p95HER2 is not expressed in normal tissues, one of the main drawbacks of these therapies would be avoided: recognition of the target outside tumor tissue. Currently, the resistance mechanisms that may appear with TCB treatment are being studied.