2023-11-24 08:15:07
Scientists have expanded an important precision medicine platform so that tumors of the nervous system can now be studied in much more detail. This improvement opens the door to more personalized therapeutic strategies
The work is the work of a research team led by Dr. Eduard Serra, from the Germans Trias i Pujol Research Institute (IGTP) in Badalona, and Dra. Conxi Lázaro, from the Catalan Institute of Oncology (ICO) and head of the hereditary cancer group at the Bellvitge Biomedical Research Institute (IDIBELL), located in Hospitalet de Llobregat and which is one of the CERCA institutions of the Generalitat de Catalunya.
The expansion of the precision medicine platform now allows us to analyze and improve treatments for malignant peripheral nerve sheath tumors (MPNSTs). These tumors are known to be aggressive and have a low survival rate, especially in patients with a genetic disorder called neurofibromatosis type 1 (NF1), an inherited disease that affects approximately 1 in 3,000 people. They represent between 3 and 10% of all soft tissue tumors or sarcomas in the general population, while they have a prevalence ranging between 8 and 15% in patients with NF1.
Now, researchers have been able to implant fragments of new MPNSTs from patients into mice, and have isolated cell lines from the same tumors, thus providing a laboratory environment to study these tumors. Once these biological replicas were created that maintain the characteristics of the original tumors, they have carried out an exhaustive characterization of their genome, epigenome and histology. This approach allows researchers to better understand the behavior of tumors and how they might respond to treatments. Edgar Creus-Bachiller, doctoral student at IDIBELL, and Dr. Juana Fernandez, head of the Mouse Lab at IDIBELL, have led the experimental work and subsequent analysis.
In fact, the results have even allowed a more precise classification of tumors, identifying that some previously considered MPNST could correspond to other tumor entities. This discovery, combined with the possibility of testing drugs to evaluate their effectiveness, will open the door to more personalized and beneficial therapeutic strategies.
Some of the members of the research team. (Photo: IDIBELL)
This work has been carried out in collaboration with the researcher Dr. Alberto Villanueva from IDIBELL and the ICO. In addition, Fernández is part of the central core of the Animal Experimentation Ethics Committee, the body responsible for ensuring compliance with the 3Rs in all animal experimentation models. This principle governs animal experimentation with the goal of replacing the use of animals whenever possible, minimizing the number of animals used, refining procedures to minimize pain to laboratory animals.
The study is titled “Expanding a precision medicine platform for malignant peripheral nerve sheath tumors: New patient-derived orthotopic xenografts, cell lines and tumor entities.” And it has been published in the academic journal Molecular Oncology. (Source: IDIBELL)
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