The IIS Aragón seeks to identify predictive markers of efficacy in patients with lung cancer receiving treatment with immunotherapy

Three groups from the Aragón Health Research Institute (IIS Aragón) are working in coordination on the 'IOBIO-Lung' study, which seeks to identify predictive markers of efficacy in patients with lung cancer receiving treatment with immunotherapy. This is a collaboration between the medical oncology research groups; Immunotherapy, inflammation and cancer; and Clinical Research in Infectious Diseases, with several doctoral theses and publications in progress.

Started in 2018, the project has provided data on the importance of steroids and antibiotics in the saliva microbiota. “We are already beginning to have data on differences in the effectiveness of immunotherapy in patients with certain immune cell populations, which have been presented this year at the Congress of the European Society of Medical Oncology and at the Congress of the International Lung Cancer Association” explains Dolores Isla, principal investigator of the Medical Oncology Group at the Lozano Blesa University Clinical Hospital of the IIS Aragón.

Along with this study, the other important research activity carried out by the group led by Isla is the 'INHERITY LC' project, a study in patients with lung cancer in which germline mutations are analyzed using a massive sequencing platform, and which is carried out with the La Paz Hospital in Madrid and the Hospital Clinic in Barcelona. “We started in 2021 and preliminary data from 55 patients with lung cancer, selected for certain clinical-molecular characteristics, speak of the presence of genetic alterations in one in three and 8% of pathological or probably pathological variants. These results, and while waiting to include more patients and carry out a multivariate study, would justify proposing genetic study in this population,” he argues.

Dolores Isla is also responsible for the Medical Oncology Service at the Lozano Blesa University Clinical Hospital in Zaragoza, which has the Thoracic Tumors Unit, made up of her, Rodrigo Lastra and Elisa Quílez. This team brings together approximately half of all the Service's tests, which have been carried out for more than 30 years, becoming the reference center for Aragon on this matter and, on occasions, for the northern part of Spain. “At this time we have 15 active clinical trials in the patient inclusion phase and another ten in the follow-up phase. Many are pivotal trials for the registration of new drugs and others are carried out in earlier stages of research, being of special interest to patients to be able to participate in them to access therapeutic innovation in oncology,” she indicates.

Lung cancer is a true public health problem in Spain: it is the third in incidence, with 30.000 new cases per year (it represents 10% of all cancers) and the first in mortality, since it accounts for 20% of all cancers. deaths from cancer. The incidence is decreasing in men, but increasing in women for several decades; Mortality also drops in men, but increases very significantly in women, so in the next two or three years it may become the leading cause of cancer mortality among women. “There are gender differences in lung cancer whose causes must be investigated in more depth, biological, clinical and sociocultural differences, so it is important to consider the gender factor to offer true personalized and precision oncology to our patients,” says Isla, who highlights that, especially "in the last two decades", there have been "great advances thanks to the intense research that has been carried out, both in diagnosis and treatment, with a better knowledge of its molecular bases, making it the paradigm of precision oncology”. “Lung cancer is a tumor where there are still many challenges to be met, but the important research activity that is being carried out is already changing the prognosis of this disease clearly, and from our research group we feel very proud to be able to actively participate in it,” he emphasizes.

About the Aragón Health Research Institute

The IIS Aragón is the Health Research Institute formed by the “Lozano Blesa” and “Miguel Servet” University Hospitals, Primary Health Care, the University of Zaragoza and the Aragonese Institute of Health Sciences. The objectives of the IIS Aragón are to bring together basic and applied, clinical and health services research; create a quality research, care and teaching environment that integrates health professionals, training specialists and postgraduate and undergraduate students, as well as constitute the ideal place for attracting talent and the location of large scientific-technological facilities.