The head of the group of Transformation and Metastasis PEBC-IDIBELL, Eva Gonzalez Suarez has received an ERC Consolidator Grant from the European Research Council (ERC) to develop its PLEIO-RANK project to develop a single therapy capable of reducing metastasis and mortality in solid tumors. The grant supposes a funding 2 million Euros for the next five years.
Thousands of cancer patients worldwide are taking RANKL inhibitors for the management of bone metastases, based on the key role of RANKL and its receptor RANK in osteoclasts. “We have shown” explains the researcher “that overexpression of RANK induces stemness, interferes with differentiation in transformed mammary epithelial cells, and promotes the early stages of mammary tumorigenesis acting as a paracrine mediator of progesterone.”
“The PLEIO-RANK project” adds, “is intended to explore the therapeutic potential of inhibiting RANK signaling in other solid tumors, not only as a preventive strategy, but also during tumor progression, recurrence and metastases. We will dissect the role of this pathway in tumor cells and in surrounding stroma.”
Inhibition of RANK could become a single therapy aimed at reducing mortality and metastasis in solid tumors by its pleiotropic antitumor effects on cancer and stromal cells.
The Consolidator Grants aim to promote the career of talented researchers with an innovative vision who have demonstrated their research potential and scientific maturity.