Researchers from IIS Aragón participate in an international work that links the importance of treating hypertension in the elderly to preventing dementia
October 9, 2023“La Caixa” Banking Foundation. 7th Edition of the call for health research projects 2024
October 10, 2023
The Association of Parents of Oncological Children of Aragon (Aspanoa) is financing a project by the IIS Aragón to search for new treatments against two childhood tumors, neuroblastoma and diffuse trunk glioma, to which the Aragonese company Articles of Menaje for Collectives also joined AMC
In March of this year, the Aragón Health Research Institute began a project to search for new treatments against two childhood tumors: neuroblastoma (which affects 8% of children with cancer and is responsible for 15% of childhood cancer mortality) and diffuse trunk glioma (a rare brain tumor, but whose survival rate is especially low).
This research led by researcher ARAID Alberto Jimenez Schuhmacher and the scientist Ariel Ramirez, has the collaboration of researchers from other national and international centers. The Association of Parents of Oncological Children of Aragon (Aspanoa) invested 60.000 euros to start this project. To launch this research, Aspanoa has had two collaborators: the association Biescas is Life (which contributed 10.000 euros) and the Aragonese company Articles of Menaje para Colectividades –AMC-, with a donation of 3.000 euros.
Precisely, to know the details and progress of this investigation this week The representatives of Aspanoa and AMC have been at the IIS Aragón. A day to learn more about the work and progress of the group and see first-hand the steps on which this research is working.
Researchers are working to try to increase survival in both tumors through new immunotherapies. To do this, they use cells called NK ('natural killers'), present in the human body, and whose function is, among others, to destroy cancer cells. Therefore, the objective is to develop natural killer cells that they do distinguish these childhood tumors and, in this way, destroy them. To do this, they will genetically modify the NKs in the laboratory so that they are capable of detecting two proteins associated with the proliferation of cancers and thus, when they see both targets, they will proceed to attack them.
The project lasts two years and, during this time, the researchers intend to test the effectiveness of these cells in the laboratory –vitro– and in experimental models with neuroblastoma or diffuse trunk glioma –in vivo-.
