A promising study of bladder cancer supported by CRIS Cancer Foundation has been selected as one of the top four worldwide for its quality and relevance by the American Society for Clinical Oncology (ASCO). This wonderful news was received even as Dr. Enrique Grande, Chief of Medical Oncology at MD Anderson Cancer Centre, Madrid, made a presentation at the 1st Congress of ASCO, the world´s most recognised oncology event.
“Professionally, within oncology, it is the greatest recognition. It is like winning the Champions League”, explains Dr. Enrique Grande about the opportunity to make a presentation about The DUTRENEO Study, supported by CRIS Cancer Foundation, that has produced promising preliminary results that can have a direct impact on curing the disease in the form of new treatments.
More than 50,000 professionals from around the world participated in this event where Dr. Enrique Grande, presented the results of the study at the table Updates on Immunotherapy Biomarkers Development in Kidney and Bladder Cancers´ on Friday May 29th, 2020.
“Personally, it is a joy and I think it should be a source of pride to see that researchers, with the help of CRIS Cancer Foundation, an international foundation, have been able to reach a high level of recognition in a field as extremely difficult and competitive as that of cancer research”, explains Grande.
These promising results highlight the need to promote research and invest in the talent and innovation of researchers in order to have a clear impact on improvement in treating disease. This is a commitment that CRIS Cancer Foundation maintains, as we believe that it is only through research that we will achieve the goal of curing cancer.
Lola Manterola, President of CRIS Cancer Foundation, says, “We want to congratulate Dr. Enrique Grande, and all those who were part of this study, for achieving these advances that are an important part in curing this type of cancer. Research is essential. We have become promoters of this study because we want to invest in innovative initiatives developed by researchers. Receiving worldwide recognition supports them in their progress to end bladder cancer.”
Dr. Enrique Grande highlights the challenges that research still faces: “Unfortunately, sufficient public investment in cancer research is lacking and what funding is available is very competitive to attain, where the opportunities available for independent researchers outside the large cancer networks is very limited. I will never be able to thank the CRIS Cancer Foundation enough for supporting me in developing this study, which will certainly help us better understand this type of tumour”.
One of the keys to the DUTRENEO study is that it is carried out in more than 10 university hospitals*. It is an interdisciplinary project in which clinicians, surgeons, pathologists and biologists have all participated. Another essential aspect of this project, and which also makes it pioneering research worldwide, is how patients have been selected to decide what type of treatment to give them. The DUTRENEO study represents a fundamental first step on the road to personalising bladder cancer treatments and the discovery of new biomarkers for the development of safer and more effective therapies.
The DUTRENEO study
The DUTRENEO study led by Dr. Enrique Grande of the MD Anderson Cancer Centre Madrid Hospital, has had the participation of medical oncologists, urologists, radiologists and pathologists from each of the participating centres that coordinate with the central molecular biology laboratory of the National Centre for Oncological Research (CNIO). For this study, the inflammatory gene signature of each of the tumours was determined, allowing for the selection for each patient one type of treatment or another depending on the genetic profile of each tumour. Therefore, those patients whose molecular profile turned out to be “cold” for genes related to inflammation were treated with standard classical chemotherapy; and those patients who turned out to have a “hot or swollen” signature received immunotherapy. In addition, the presence or absence of certain proteins related to the immune response, as well as the cell type, from the histological point of view, that contained each tumour and correlated with the response, were analysed on the tumour samples of the patients.
Dr. Grande points out: “Immunotherapy has completely changed the prognosis and expectations of patients with bladder cancer in whom metastases have already been seen. The most important thing is that change not only comes in the form of something as important as increasing the survival of patients but is also capable of improving the quality of life of patients. There is the possibility of reducing the size of these metastasis and that this reduction can be maintained over time for months or even years.”
Currently, only 20-25% of patients in whom metastases have appeared will be alive 5 years after diagnosis. For this reason, Dr. Enrique Grande points out that, “we must still continue to improve and make progress in offering new treatments for patients to improve these numbers”.
*Participating University Hospitals:
- University Hospital Ramón y Cajal, Madrid, Dra. Teresa Alonso-Gordoa
- University Hospital 12 de Octubre, Madrid, Dr. Daniel Castellano
- University Hospital Clínico San Carlos, Madrid. Dr. Javier Puente
- University Hospital Catalán Institute of Oncology, Badalona, Dr. Albert Font
- University Hospital Barcelona, Dra. Begoña Mellado
- University Hospital Marqués de Valdecilla, Santander, Dr. Ignacio Durán
- Valencian Institute of Oncology, Dr. Miguel Ángel Climent
- Institute Català d’Oncologia (ICO), University Hospital Bellvitge, Dr. Francisco Javier García del Muro
- University Hospital Santa Creu i Sant Paus, Barcelona, Dr. Pablo Maroto
- MD Anderson Cancer Center Madrid Hospital, Dr. Enrique Grande