A research in metastatic breast cancer of the Virgen Macarena Hospital achieves the extraordinary scholarship of the Society of Medical Oncology
The Andalusian Society of Medical Oncology (SAOM) has awarded its extraordinary scholarship ‘Doctor Ruiz Borrego’ to a research project on metastatic breast cancer promoted by professionals from the Virgen Macarena University Hospital and the Andalusian Center for Molecular Biology and Regenerative Medicine of Seville (Cabimer).
The research project aims to determine the role of myeloid suppressor cells in metastatic breast cancer and analyze their molecular mechanism with the aim of developing new immunological therapeutic strategies that improve the prognosis and quality of life of patients. The designation of the project as the winner of the research grant, endowed with 20,000 euros, was made public at the ‘III Andalusian Symposium on Oncology in Breast Cancer’, held by the SAOM in Malaga.
Breast cancer is the leading cause of cancer death in women globally. Thanks to advances in early detection and treatments, survival rates have improved significantly when diagnosis is made in early stages. However, the forecast drastically worsens in advanced stages. When the cancer reaches a metastatic stage, the five-year survival rate drops to 32% and current treatments only manage to temporarily control the disease, without offering a definitive cure.
At this critical stage of the disease, the tumor has acquired the ability to evade the immune system, allowing it to survive, spread and resist conventional treatments. One of the key pieces in this process is a population of immune cells called myeloid suppressor cells (MDSCs). These cells, which under normal conditions can be protective by regulating inflammation, are used by the tumor to silence the immune response and promote its expansion.
Previous research developed by Medical Oncology professionals in collaboration with the Clinical Biochemistry Service of the Virgen Macarena Hospital has shown that patients with advanced/metastatic breast cancer have high levels in peripheral blood of suppressor cells of myeloid origin (MDSC) and regulatory T lymphocytes (Treg) compared to population of healthy women, without oncological pathology. This finding has revealed the state of immunosuppression that characterizes these patients.
The information obtained from the research ‘Multiomic characterization of suppressor cells of myeloid origin in advanced breast cancer’ will allow the generation of biomarkers that help to stratify patients according to their levels and functional types of myeloid suppressor cells and predict their response to treatments. From this information, the door can be opened to a more personalized approach, in which patients can receive therapies adapted to their specific immunological profile.
This research project is built on a strategic collaboration between two groups of research leaders in their respective fields: the ‘Translational Research in Cancer Immunology and Immunotherapy’ group, led by the head of the Oncology Service of the Virgen Macarena Hospital, Luis de la Cruz, and the ‘Metabolic Regulation and Signaling in Cancer’ group, led by Patricia Altea in Cabimer.
Both teams are already working together on other cutting-edge initiatives, such as the development of patient-derived organoids for breast cancer, an innovative tool that allows therapies to be evaluated under conditions highly representative of the actual tumor environment. This collaboration has already demonstrated its scientific, technical and ethical viability. Since 2024, there has been an operational tumor sample collection circuit supported by the corresponding approved clinical and biosafety protocols. In addition, Cabimer's group provides an advanced infrastructure to perform complex metabolomic studies using liquid/gas chromatography coupled to mass spectrometry, essential to characterize the metabolism of tumor and immunosuppressive cells.
The project is also supported by a collaborative network of oncologists, clinical biochemists, pathologists and radiologists of the Virgen Macarena Hospital and the Biobank of the Public Health System of Andalusia.
Research activity
The Medical Oncology Unit of the Virgen Macarena Hospital maintains more than 240 active clinical trials, including immunotherapy lines and targeted therapies in various types of cancer, among them Mama's.
In recent years, the health center has promoted and coordinated academic projects such as the PANGEA-BREAST clinical trial that sought to identify predictive biomarkers of response in tissue and blood of patients with advanced breast cancer treated with combined systemic therapies, as well as the suppressor cell study (GEICAM, 2019) focused on characterization of the immune system in patients with advanced breast cancer, comparing with healthy cohorts, and evaluation of how these profiles affect prognosis and response to treatment. In the context of clinical trials, the HUVM was the maximum recruiter in Spain of the MONALEESA-3 study that studied the combination of a new drug with hormonal therapy, achieving an increase in 28% overall survival in postmenopausal women, and whose results were published in the ‘New England Journal of Medicine’ setting a new standard of treatment in advanced breast cancer.
In addition, recently the prestigious journal ‘Nature Cancer’ has published an article about a study carried out with participation of professionals from the Virgen Macarena University Hospital regarding how the immune system can collaborate with the tumor in certain cases and types of breast cancers (HR HER2−) to generate resistance to generally efficient treatments. The project explains why some cases of the most common type of breast cancer, known as luminal or hormone-sensitive, could stop responding to one of the most frequent and successful therapies, and provides information about possible therapeutic avenues to reverse this refractoriness.
Source: Virgen Macarena University Hospital of Seville