A project to study a personalized treatment for early stages of breast cancer, winner the Adamed Awards

A study led by the Medical Oncology faculty of the Arnau de Vilanova de Lleida University Hospital and researcher at the Lleida Biomedical Research Institute (IRBLleida), Serafín Morales, which investigates a personalized treatment for early stages of breast cancer, has been selected by the Adamed laboratories in their second call for research grants. The Adamed laboratories have selected a total of six research proposals, of the 28 submitted, because they receive funding. The call has € 60,000.

The project, entitled ‘Choice of treatment with neoadjuvant chemotherapy in patients with early stage breast cancer and positive hormone receptors by determining the Oncotype platform, CF DNA in peripheral blood and changes in the KI67 marker in tumor tissue’, aims to find molecules that predict the success of chemotherapy treatment for breast cancer.

“This study is aimed at a group of patients suffering from a breast cancer known as LUMINAL and which represents 60% of all breast cancers. 25% of these cases have risk criteria and, until now, were treated with chemotherapy” explained the researcher. “We believe that the use of three tools such as the Oncotype platform (which analyzes genes), the study of the KI67 marker and the analysis of DNA levels can help us to predict chemosensitivity and, therefore, to avoid treatment with chemotherapy in half of the cases and in those cases in which this treatment was used, to achieve a greater benefit, “the researcher confirmed.

The duration of the study is 2 years and 70 cases are expected to be included each year. The researchers want to start this project as soon as possible, carrying out the extractions of blood samples for subsequent analysis.