The group has worked on initiatives to promote hospital care quality, clinical trials with drugs (I-III), prehabilitation in patients with localized disease and collaboration with other institutions (IMDEA).
It is a multidisciplinary group dedicated mainly to healthcare activities that works in close collaboration with the biobank. Research activities are embedded in the daily clinical activity.
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.
The Cancer Epigenomics group, led by Dr. Angel Díaz-Lagares, belongs to the Epigenomics Unit of the Instituto de Investigación Sanitaria de Santiago de Compostela (IDIS) and to the Translational Medical Oncology Group (ONCOMET) of IDIS. In addition to his research activity, Dr. Angel Díaz-Lagares is a Clinical Biochemistry specialist in the Clinical Analysis Service of the Complejo Hospitalario Universitario de Santiago de Compostela (CHUS). Our line of research is based on the identification of epigenetic biomarkers in liquid biopsy (circulating DNA, extracellular vesicles and circulating tumor cells) in order to develop non-invasive tools with clinical utility in precision oncology: early diagnosis, prognosis, minimal residual disease, and evaluation/monitoring of response to treatment. To carry out this line of research we have epigenomic methodologies for the study of the methylome based on EPIC microarrays (Illumina) and NGS (NextSeq 500), as well as highly sensitive techniques to study methylation in individual genes or GCs by pyrosequencing, MSP, qMSP, and digital PCR (ddPCR).
These capabilities allow us to address from the discovery of epigenetic alterations based on methylation with omics techniques to the validation of the identified alterations. This methodology allows the study of human or mouse samples from different sources: fresh and paraffin-embedded tissue, cells, liquid biopsy (leukocytes, plasma, saliva). In addition to studying biomarkers and therapeutic targets, this methodology allows us to study in depth the epigenetic mechanisms involved in the development and progression of tumor disease. Within our Hospital, we have access to samples from patients with pancreatic cancer (liquid biopsy). We are part of CIBERONC, belonging to the Precision Diagnostics and Therapeutics Program; the Digestive Tumors Program; and the Immuno-Oncology Work Module.
The New Therapies in Cancer research group is multidisciplinary, with a team structure that reflects transversal capabilities and skills (oncologists, biologists, pathologists, biotechnologists, etc.), and allows integrated approaches to achieve the proposed objectives. Our goal is to perform a multifaceted investigation of the tumorigenic process at the basic, translational and clinical levels.
We participate in a National Networked Research program, through the Center for Biomedical Research in Cancer Network (CIBERONC), and also in other cooperative groups of clinical research in cancer, thus providing an excellent framework for collaboration and interaction with other research groups. We develop several lines of study aimed mainly at addressing new clinical challenges in the application of new targeted therapies in oncology. We conduct research in various clinical and experimental areas. One of them focuses on the identification of clinical or molecular factors useful for predicting clinical evolution, response or toxicity in cancer treatment. In this sense, we have recently initiated a line of research where we apply liquid biopsy for the development of tools that can improve the diagnosis, prognosis and monitoring of the response to treatment of patients with pancreatic cancer. We believe that our ability to perform clinical studies, and also our experience in liquid biopsy, may be relevant when approaching collaborative projects in the context of ALIPANC.
In summary, the New Therapies in Cancer research group is a multidisciplinary team with transversal capabilities, committed to cancer research at the basic, translational and clinical levels. Our participation in national research networks and collaboration with other groups provides us with an environment conducive to knowledge sharing and collaboration. We are focused on addressing new clinical challenges in oncology and are exploring the use of liquid biopsy to improve the diagnosis and treatment of pancreatic cancer.
The pancreatic cancer clinical research group is formed by researchers in the area of Medical Oncology and aims to provide comprehensive patient care and development in areas of clinical research. In addition, the group actively participates in clinical research with other centers through multicenter observational studies.
The group’s main areas of research include:
Dr. Vilma Pacheco Barcia has a degree in Medicine and Surgery from the Autonomous University of Barcelona (2013). Specialist in Medical Oncology after completing his residency via MIR at the Hospital Universitario La Princesa (2019) completing his training in the area of Digestive with a stay at McGill University Health Centre in the area of Medical Oncology performing clinical and translational research focused on pancreatic cancer and a stay at the Pancreatic Cancer Center (Perlmutter Cancer Center – NYU Langone Health) in the translational research laboratory of pancreatic cancer. FSEOM-Merck “Somos Futuro” Award for the professional career during the residency (2020). D. from the Universidad Autónoma de Madrid for the project entitled “Índice de Respuesta Inflamatoria Sistémica:
Prognostic Factor in Pancreatic Cancer” with a grade of outstanding (2021). Master in Molecular Oncology by CEB (2021).
With extensive experience in the diagnostic and therapeutic approach to patients with pancreatic cancer, a high participation in communications at national and international congresses and publications in international journals, the clinical group aims to provide comprehensive patient care and development in areas of clinical research.
