Upper gastrointestinal cancer group
Basic/translational research | Clinical research
Vall d'Hebron Institute of Oncology (VHIO)
·Barcelona ·

Our group is dedicated to translational research focusing on three key areas of interest. First, we investigated prognostic and predictive factors related to targeted and immune therapies. Our goal is to identify biomarkers that will help predict which patients will respond best to these therapies, allowing us to offer more personalized treatment options and improve patient outcomes.

Second, we are generating patient-derived models that are relevant for preclinical research. Finally, we are conducting preclinical and clinical evaluations of novel therapeutic strategies. We are particularly interested in developing molecular therapies targeting altered signaling pathways in pancreatic and biliary tract cancers. Our group has made significant contributions in this field, pioneering early phase clinical trials to advance anticancer strategies against cancers of the upper gastrointestinal tract and associated translational studies.

Main publications in pancreatic cancer:

  1. Tempero M, Oh DY, Tabernero J, Reni M, Van Cutsem E, Hendifar A, Waldschmidt DT, Starling N, Bachet JB, Chang HM, Maurel J, Garcia-Carbonero R, Lonardi S, Coussens LM, Fong L, Tsao LC, Cole G Jr, James D, Macarulla T. Ibrutinib in Combination with Nab-Paclitaxel and Gemcitabine for First-Line Treatment of Patients with Metastatic Pancreatic Adenocarcinoma: Phase 3 RESOLVE Study . Ann Oncol . 2021 Feb 1;S0923-7534(21)00098-3. doi: 10.1016/j.annonc.2021.01.070.  
  2. Golan, Talia; Hammel, Pascal; Reni, Michele; Van Cutsem, Eric; upper gastrointestinal; Hall, Michael J; Park, Joon-Oh; Hochhauser, Daniel; Arnold, Dirk; Oh, Do-Youn; Reinacher-Schick, Anke; Tortora, Giampaolo; Algul, Hana; O'Reilly, Eileen M; McGuinness, David; Cui, Karen Y; Schlienger, Katia; Locker, Gershon Y; Kindler, Hedy L Maintenance Olaparib for Germline BRCA-Mutated Metastatic Pancreatic Cancer. The New England journal of medicine, 2019-Jun-02.
  3. Macarulla T, Pazo-Cid R, Guillén-Ponce C, López R, Vera R, Reboredo M, Muñoz Martin A, Rivera F, Díaz Beveridge R, La Casta A, Martín Valadés J, Martínez-Galán J, Ales I, Sastre J, Perea S, Hidalgo M. "Phase I/II Trial to Evaluate the Efficacy and Safety of Nanoparticle Albumin-Bound Paclitaxel in Combination With Gemcitabine in Patients With Pancreatic Cancer and an ECOG Performance Status of 2. J Clin Oncol. 2019 Jan 20;37(3):230-238. doi: 10.1200/JCO.18.00089. Epub 2018 Dec 4.
Dr. Teresa Macarulla

Principal Investigator

Group members

  • Teresa Macarulla
  • Tian Tian

Other groups

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