The translational research projects by Doctors Ignacio Melero, Tian Tian, María Casanovas, and José Antonio Seoane are the winners of the XXII FERO Grants and the IV FERO-ghd Project in Breast Cancer, awarded with €540,000. With this latest addition to our FERO family, 42 researchers have now been able to initiate their translational oncology research projects thanks to the FERO grants. You can consult all projects promoted by the FERO grants here.
The I Dr. Baselga Extraordinary Grant as a new feature of the XXII edition of the FERO Grants
This year’s edition includes the I Dr. Baselga Extraordinary Grant, which pays tribute to the founder of FERO, who passed away in 2021. Endowed with €300,000, it was presented along with a trophy, a work by sculptor Jaume Plensa, as the artist’s personal contribution to the foundation.
Unlike the other FERO grants, which aim to promote young research talent, this grant is directed at researchers with a long scientific career and a solid research proposal.
Winning Project of the Dr. Baselga Extraordinary Grant
The I Dr. Baselga Extraordinary Grant has been awarded to Dr. Ignacio Melero, a researcher at the Clínica Universidad de Navarra (CUN), for his research project on cross-priming, an important mechanism for activating immune cells against cancer.
This mechanism involves capturing antigens from dead tumor cells and redirecting them, which is fundamental for orchestrating the cytotoxic immune response against cancer cells.
“Knowledge about cross-priming is not sufficiently developed, although it could represent a significant opportunity for the development of new strategies that benefit patients,” notes Dr. Ignacio Melero.
Winning Project of the XXII FERO Grant, sponsored by the Ramón Areces Foundation
Dr. Tian Tian, from the Vall d’Hebron Institute of Oncology (VHIO) in Barcelona, is the winner of one of the XXII FERO Grants. His research project uses liquid biopsy to decipher the hidden epigenetic characteristics in the plasma of patients with cholangiocarcinoma, the second most common and currently incurable hepatobiliary tumor.
“The identification of diagnostic and prognostic biomarkers generally requires traditional biopsy procedures, which are invasive and difficult to repeat during treatment. Liquid biopsy, focused on detection from fluid samples, represents a way to overcome these problems. We propose using this liquid biopsy to epigenetically characterize cholangiocarcinomas. We hope to understand if this technique can be used to inform cholangiocarcinoma-specific gene expression programs and also if it allows us, after curative surgical resection, to detect minimal traces of the disease. Another objective will be to explore whether it is possible to monitor treatment response and identify resistance mechanisms,” comments Dr. Tian Tian.
Winning Project of the XXII FERO Grant, sponsored by the Bosch Foundation
Dr. María Casanovas, a researcher at the Spanish National Cancer Research Centre (CNIO), has received one of the XXII FERO Grants. Her research project seeks to understand the mechanisms of resistance to immunotherapy in lung cancer and to sensitize non-small cell lung cancer tumors that do not respond to immunotherapy treatments to this type of therapy.
“With the advent of immunotherapy, cancer treatment has radically changed. Now, some untreatable tumors can be cured. Unfortunately, not all patients respond to these treatments, and there is a need to investigate why this happens. We have identified a type of immune cell that resides in tumors, macrophages, which promote the activation of cancer-associated fibroblasts. Unfortunately, this relationship between these two cell types has not yet been addressed, nor has it been investigated whether this relationship makes immunotherapy ineffective,” explains Dr. Casanovas.
Winning Project of the IV FERO-ghd Project in Breast Cancer
Dr. José Antonio Seoane, from the Vall d’Hebron Institute of Oncology (VHIO) in Barcelona, has received the IV FERO-ghd Project in Breast Cancer. His project aims to characterize the epigenetic profiles of hormone-treated breast tumors to better understand the mechanism of resistance to hormonal therapy and improve the treatment of patients who have relapsed with a new family of epigenetic drugs that complement hormonal therapy.
“Breast cancer is the most diagnosed cancer in women and is also the leading cause of cancer death. In recent decades, its prognosis has improved, mainly due to the effectiveness of hormone receptor treatments. However, a significant percentage of these patients who initially responded relapse after several years. It is not well understood why, nor what molecular mechanism is involved in these late metastases. Our hypothesis is that there is an epigenetic profile prior to treatment that can determine the subsequent resistant versus inactive post-treatment profile and that could be used to determine the probability of relapse. If we are able to discover this epigenetic signature, we could use it to monitor patients via liquid biopsy before metastases are clinically detectable,” comments Dr. José Antonio Seoane.
