Research
Our research focuses on the study of brain cancer, including primary brain tumors and brain metastasis. Both glioblastoma (the most aggressive and frequent form of primary brain tumors) and brain metastasis are dismal diseases with limited therapeutic options. Only the deep understanding of the molecular mechanisms that govern these types of cancer will allow the design of rational, specific and successful therapeutic approaches.
Our work is based on the study of cancer as close as possible to the reality of patients. Being in a Hospital environment, we develop patient-derived models to discern the molecular mechanisms involved in tumor initiation and progression.
Our group is a multidisciplinary group that includes clinical (oncologists, pathologists, surgeons) and basic scientists, all of them working together in a team effort to fight brain cancer.
Although our focus is the study of brain malignancies, we extrapolate some of the newly discovered molecular mechanisms to other tumor types finding that, in some cases the same process takes place in diverse cancers.
Two main lines of research are nowadays active in the lab:
- The study of intra- and inter-tumor heterogeneity and evolution that includes genomic heterogeneity, cancer-initiating cells and stroma/immune cell heterogeneity (including the study of TGF-β and LIF).
- Liquid biopsies in brain cancer with a focus on cell free circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA) in cerebrospinal fluid.
In this direction, one of our works, based on the study of immune cell heterogeneity; has elucidated LIF as a promising new therapeutic target. We have shown that LIF regulates CXCL9 tumor-associated macrophages, preventing from CD8+ T cell infiltration, altogether impairing anti-PD1 therapy.
