Aspanoa contributes €200.000 to investigate two childhood cancers with a poor prognosis

Ariel Ramírez and Patricia Sancho, scientists from the Aragon Health Research Institute (IIS Aragón), are leading the projects

Aragon gives a new boost to childhood cancer research with the launch of two new projects thanks to the funding of AspanoaSpecifically, this association contributes 200.000 Euros in order to find new treatments for the neuroblastoma and the medulloblastoma, Two childhood tumors with a less than ideal prognosis.

Both projects, which receive identical funding (100.000 euros each), will be developed mainly at the Aragon Health Research Institute (IIS Aragon) and will be led by scientists Ariel Ramirez y Patricia Sancho. 

The research promoted by Dr. Patricia Sancho focuses on the medulloblastomaCerebellar aneurysm is the most common malignant brain tumor in children and one of the most aggressive. This cancer appears in the cerebellum, and if it belongs to Group 3 or 4, it has a worse prognosis, with a higher probability of recurrence after standard treatments and potentially causing the child's death.

The goal of Dr. Sancho's team is therefore to prevent the tumor from recurring, and to achieve this they will focus their efforts on the tumor stem cells of the medulloblastoma, that is, those that resist the usual treatments and cause the tumor to reappear.

In previous research funded by Aspanoa, Sancho discovered that one of the weaknesses of medulloblastoma stem cells was their mitochondria, which are like the cells' "lungs." Therefore, they intend to test drugs that inhibit the mitochondria of these cells and "suffocate" them, causing their death and preventing the medulloblastoma from recurring. 

They will do this by testing different drugs, with particular emphasis on Minnelide, which in preliminary phases has doubled the survival rate of mice with medulloblastoma. “It is not yet known why, and we believe it may be precisely because this drug inhibits their mitochondria,” explains Dr. Sancho.

Minnelide is an experimental drug currently in phase 1 and phase 2 trials for adult gastrointestinal cancers, such as pancreatic, stomach, and colon cancer. “There are very good prospects, and we believe that if it works in mice with medulloblastoma, its translation to human patients would be relatively imminent, since the drug has been shown to be safe and only a trial for a new patient population would be needed.”

Along with Dr. Sancho, the researchers Irene Chavarría, Pilar Espiau and Paula Martín, from the Tumor Stem Cells group of the IIS Aragón, as well as Elena García, scientist of the Aragón Institute of Engineering Research (I3A), are participating in this project.

Natural killer cells

Meanwhile, the team led by Ariel Ramírez Labrada will try to find a more effective treatment against neuroblastomaIt is a common childhood tumor, occurring especially in children under 5 years old and appearing primarily in the abdominal area. Although many neuroblastomas respond very well to standard treatments, approximately 40% of them are high risk And in those cases, survival remains around 50%. 

Therefore, Ramírez will focus on this type of neuroblastoma with a worse prognosis, using a dual therapeutic strategy. On the one hand, he wants test an experimental drug developed in Barcelona called OmomycIt is currently in clinical trials with other types of tumors, with promising results. This future drug blocks a gene called MYC, which drives tumor growth and is present in the most aggressive cancers.

On the other hand, based on the experience their research group has accumulated in the development of immunotherapies, they want to develop a specific cell therapy for this type of tumorsusing NK ('Natural Killer') cells. These cells are called “natural killers"Because they are present in the immune system of all human beings and are responsible for destroying tumors. Specifically, the researchers want to develop a CAR that would deliver these NK cells to high-risk neuroblastomas and any metastases they may have caused." 

“Ultimately, it’s a combination therapy that uses a dual strategy to try to achieve the best results,” explains this researcher. “The drug Omomyc prevents tumor development, but it doesn’t eliminate it. And with this CAR-NK cell, suitably adapted for this type of tumor, we aim to destroy the tumor.”

The research will be carried out in in vitro models and in mice with the aim of laying the foundations for a future clinical trial in patients, planned for the medium term if the results in the laboratory are as expected. 

Ariel Ramírez is a Ramón y Cajal researcher in the I3C Group of the IIS Aragón and together with him, Yurena Aguilar, an oncopediatrician at the Miguel Servet Children's Hospital in Zaragoza, participates in this project. 

About Aspanoa

Ramírez and Sancho highlight the "flexibility" of Aspanoa's funding, which will allow them to adjust the use of resources according to the results they obtain in their respective research, and which will also serve to hire one more scientist in each of their groups.

Aspanoa is the association that supports children with cancer in Aragon, assists their families, and promotes childhood cancer research in the region. Last year, it assisted 206 children and adolescents with cancer at various stages of the disease, as well as their parents and siblings. Furthermore, it is the regional association that allocates the most funds to childhood cancer research in all of Spain. Currently, it funds eight projects, all of them being carried out in Aragonese laboratories, with a total investment of €400.000.

Source: Aspanoa
Images: Asier Alkorta