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Scientific studies are carried out in fields such as colon cancer, Primary Care, childhood obesity, pancreatic cancer, Alzheimer's or diabetes
Eight projects from the Aragón Health Research Institute (IIS Aragón) have received support from the Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities by granting them 625.207 euros to carry out their studies in fields such as colon cancer, Primary Care, childhood obesity , pancreatic cancer, Alzheimer's or diabetes.
The Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities, through the Carlos III Health Institute (ISCIII), called for aid corresponding to the year 2020 for Health Research Projects, within the Strategic Action in Health 2017-2020. The granting of this aid has allowed eight of the projects presented by the IIS Aragón to be launched in 2021, two of which exceed 100.000 euros in financing in this way.
cancer therapy
The first, led by Angel Lanas y Carlos Sostres, addresses the Effect of obesity on the acetylation of COX1 and 2 by acetylsalicylic acid (ASA) as a biomarker of its effectiveness in the chemoprevention and therapy of colon cancer.
This clinical trial, which is in phase 2, continues the line of previous FIS projects of this research group focused on demonstrating the mechanism by which ASA produces a chemipreventive effect on the development of colorectal cancer (CRC). This trial specifically looks at how to optimize the ASA dosing regimen in patients with this type of cancer. Obesity in patients with CRC could be associated with an altered platelet response to ASA compared to non-obese patients, and this could be reversed by increasing the dose of ASA or shortening its dosing interval.
Colon and rectal cancer is one of the most common cancers worldwide and has a significant impact on mortality, health costs and resource use in the population. In Spain it is the third most common and the second cause of death from cancer. Therefore, its prevention and adequate treatment is a necessity and a global health challenge.
For her part, the IIS Aragón researcher Patricia Sancho She is the principal investigator of the project New metabolic biomarkers for the stratification and clinical management of pancreatic cancer, which is carried out in collaboration with the Anatomy Pathology, Oncology and Hepato-bilio-pancreatic Surgery services of the Miguel Servet University Hospital.
Its objective is to try to classify pancreatic cancer patients to choose the most appropriate treatment, a strategy that has proven highly effective in other types of cancer such as breast cancer. Sancho's team proposes using the type of metabolism of the tumors as a classification method, that is, what they feed on. After analyzing it in the laboratory with mice, they have verified that there are sweet tumors and fatty tumors, so the project seeks to validate whether this classification also exists in patients with pancreatic cancer and what treatment would be the most suitable for each subtype.
Pancreatic cancer is a lethal disease, since 90% of patients die within a year of being diagnosed. This pathology is increasingly common due to risk factors such as tobacco, alcohol, diabetes or obesity and the effectiveness of current treatments is reduced practically to zero because, as it is a silent disease in early stages, the tumor It is usually already very advanced at the time of diagnosis. Patient survival five years after diagnosis is less than 9%.
Other projects
The rest of the projects that have obtained financing from the FIS are: Eva Raps: Development of a model of evaluation indicators for asset recommendation schemes for health in Primary Care, by Elena Melús; Implementation, effectiveness and cost-effectiveness study of the Unified Protocol in combined format for the transdiagnostic treatment of emotional disorders in the Spanish National Health System, led by Jorge Javier Osma; Impact of the threat of preterm birth on cardiovascular and metabolic programming from fetal life to childhood, whose main researcher is Cristina Paules; OMICS and artificial intelligence as tools to understand the molecular mechanisms of insulin resistance in obese children during puberty, directed by Gloria Bueno; Development of a risk calculator for the onset of diabetic retinopathy based on multimodal imaging techniques in type 1 diabetic patients, whose manager is Isabel Pinilla; and Neuroretina as an early biomarker of progression from mild cognitive impairment to Alzheimer's and protective effect of cognitive-visual rehabilitation in the progression of dementia, by Elena García.
