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They cost 8 euros and, by purchasing these solidarity masks, you support an Aragonese project that seeks new therapies against pancreatic cancer and that, until the end of the month, is raising funds through Fecyt's crowdfunding platform, Precipita, to finance a contract research.
The Metabolism and Cancer Stem Cells group at the Aragón Health Research Institute (IIS Aragón), led by Patricia Sancho, focuses on the role that fat plays in the aggressiveness of pancreatic tumors. They are looking for new therapies that increase the life expectancy of patients, since 90% die the year after being diagnosed. In order to raise funds, they have launched solidarity masks that display the phrase 'I support cancer research'. The protections, reusable and approved, are available online in black and for a price of 8 euros. They also offer mask holders in semi-transparent polypropylene, for 2,5 euros, and the set of both, for 10 euros plus shipping costs.
In this way, the final stretch of the donation campaign is promoted in Precipita, a crowdfunding platform created by the Spanish Foundation for Science and Technology (FECYT) where people and companies contribute money to promote scientific research. The initiative, which accepts donations starting at five euros and will be active until September 30, has so far raised 14.838 euros.
The campaign has valuable support. The Aragonese pastry shop Tolosana has donated 15 pairing lots of Almudévar braid and sweet wine for contributions over 150 euros, while Real Zaragoza has collaborated with a shirt signed by the team captain, Alberto Zapater, which will be raffled among the donations made from September 17 to 28. Likewise, the Aragonese painter and artist Carmen Pérez-Ramírez has donated her work 'Cámara de Selim' to be auctioned. The proceeds will go to this research project.
Starving pancreatic cancer
The Metabolism and Cancer Stem Cells group at IIS Aragón focuses on the role that fat plays in the aggressiveness of tumors. “Our research has shown that the most aggressive tumor cells accumulate and use fat as a food source. By having their own fat accumulated, they are able to survive and grow in hostile conditions,” he explains. “Therefore, the project aims to interfere with this process by stopping tumor cells from feeding on fat from their environment, or by preventing these cells from burning fat as a source of energy, thus creating 'obese' cells. In both cases, the end result is that the most aggressive cancer cells run out of energy and die, that is, we want to starve pancreatic cancer,” he summarizes.
According to Sancho, pancreatic cancer is “increasingly common” in the population due to risk factors such as tobacco, alcohol, diabetes or obesity. “It is a silent disease in early stages, which means that, at the time of diagnosis, the tumor is very advanced, even having formed metastases in other organs. For these reasons, the effectiveness of current treatments decreases practically to zero and survival 5 years after diagnosis is less than 9%,” she argues.
The long-term goal of the project is to improve the quality and life expectancy of pancreatic cancer patients, proposing new treatment options that may be more effective. “Our research is carried out in mice, so this goal may take years to achieve. But, since we suggest drugs in clinical use currently, the transition to clinical trials in people can be faster,” adds the researcher.
With the funds obtained, the group intends to finance a research contract so that its predoctoral student has the opportunity to finish his thesis. Sancho's team is made up of Sarah Courtois as a postdoctoral researcher, Beatriz Parejo as a predoctoral researcher and Pilar Espiau as a laboratory technician. It works in very close collaboration with the different services of the Miguel Servet Hospital that deal with pancreatic cancer patients in different phases. Their national and international collaborations include those carried out with University College London and Barts Cancer Institute in England, and the Universities of Uppsala (Sweden), Bologna (Italy), Ulm (Germany) and Mar del Plata (Argentina). . Likewise, this project won a grant from the Worldwide Cancer Research Foundation and the Spanish Cancer Association.
