Brest Cancer Research

Breast cancer is by far the most common cancer among women. Although there have been significant advances in the prevention and treatment of metastatic breast cancer, it remains an unsolved clinical problem. From a clinical-pathological, breast cancer is classified in three groups:

- Tumors with hormone receptor expression.

- Tumors overexpressing HER2 protein kinase transmembrane.

- Tumors that lack high expression of these markers and are classified as triple-negative tumors.

Tumors with overexpressing HER2 (human epidermal growth factor receptor 2) are characterized for present and aggressive clinical course and poor prognosis. Although the development of therapies against HER2, such as trastuzumab, a monoclonal antibody against HER2, has improved the prognosis of the disease, the resistance to these therapies marks a major clinical problem.

Doctor Alberto Ocaña and Atanasio Pandiella are investigating the resistence of anti-HER2 treatments in breast cancer patients to widen the knowledge the mechanisms responsible for the development of resistance to anti-HER2 therapies and develop new therapeutic strategies to counteract such mechanisms.

Aktivitäten

• Generation of in vitro and in vivo models resistance anti-HER2 therapies. It is creating cells resistant to trastuzumab and lapatinib proposed by continued treatment with these drugs.
• Detailed analysis of the mechanisms responsible for this resistance analysis using genomic and proteomic techniques.
• Conducting screenings RNAi libraries and inhibitory compounds, with the aim of identifying targets that could be used to combat resistance mechanisms.