- The RADPrecise project young investigators team, coordinated by Ester Aguado Flor from the VHIO Hereditary Cancer Genetics Group, has won first prize in the “The story behind our personalized medicine research project” contest with a video that explains what RADPrecise project is of and how it will help personalize radiation therapy treatments.
- The aim of the contest is to provide a platform for the young researchers participating in the JTC2018 ERA PerMed co-funded call to showcase the fascinating cutting-edge research that they are performing on prominent topics in personalized medicine, while collaborating with multi-national research groups.
An outreach video made by researchers from the RADprecise project, in which the VHIO Hereditary Cancer Genetics Group and the Radiotherapy Oncology Service of the Vall d’Hebron University Hospital participate, has won first prize in the video contest for young researchers “The story behind our personalized medicine research project” organized by the European consortium ERANET_PerMed within the Joint Transnational Call 2018 (JTC2018) on Personalized Medicine.
The video has been coordinated by the fourth-year predoctoral researcher of the VHIO Hereditary Cancer Genetics Group, Ester Aguado Flor. Ester Aguado is doing her doctoral thesis under the supervision of Dr. Sara Gutiérrez-Enríquez, senior researcher in the same group, and Dr. Jordi Giralt, VHIO Radiation Oncology Group leader and head of the Hospital’s Radiation Oncology Service Vall d’Hebron University.
The aim of the competition organized by the funding agency ERANET_PerMed was to provide a platform for the young researchers participating in the JTC2018 ERA PerMed co-funded call to showcase the fascinating cutting-edge research that they are performing on prominent topics in personalised medicine, while collaborating with multi-national research groups.
The award ceremony took place within the framework of the Final Symposium of the first transnational call for ERA PerMed held in Cluj-Napoca, Romania from February 28 to March 1. This meeting was attended by researchers from the 25 projects financed by the JTC2018, the policy officer of ERAPerMed and representatives of funding agencies and scientific experts. During the symposium, the project coordinators had the opportunity to present and discuss their work and results, as well as to promote interactions between the various actors attending the meeting. Ester Aguado Flor, as coordinator of the winning video, was invited to participate in the symposium.
About RADPrecise project
Radiotherapy is commonly given to cancer patients, and it has been shown to be effective in reducing recurrence and lowering cancer mortality. However, up to 10% of patients who undergo radiotherapy either as a primary treatment or in combination with other therapies may experience severe adverse effects, that negatively affect patients’ quality of life. Therefore, it is critical to identify patients who may be particularly sensitive to radiation. By identifying these individuals early on, healthcare providers can take steps to mitigate risks and tailor treatment plans to reduce the likelihood of harmful side effects.
RADprecise, a 3-year @ERANET_PerMed translational collaboration project, has sought to improve the prediction of the risk for long-term side effects after radiotherapy using multiple biomarkers from blood in addition to clinical and personal factors. Using parametric models and machine learning, clinical investigators from academia and health research, in collaboration with a company partner as well as patient advocates, have applied biological data and genomic information to develop models that can more precisely envisage adverse effects from radiotherapy in individual patients.
Biological stratification has been enhanced by newly generated data from transcriptomics and microRNA sequencing analysis, the latter being led by VHIO’s Sara Gutiérrez-Enríquez, Senior Investigator of the Hereditary Cancer Genetics Group. Her work package has uncovered that there is a specific blood microRNAs profile distinguishing patients with radiotherapy toxicity and this microRNAs could be used before radiotherapy as novel biomarkers for radiotherapy-triggered side effects.
VHIO and Vall d’Hebron Hospital Campus’ involvement in RADprecise also include the collaborative work with Victoria Reyes, Alexandra Giraldo, and Manuel Altabas, Radiation Oncologists of the Radiation Oncology Department of the Hospital.
RADPrecise’s advanced predictive models will be key to transform radiotherapy treatment planning by enabling a personalized approach tailored to each patient’s unique sensitivities. By incorporating multiple biomarkers from blood and accounting for the specificities of individual diseases, these models will inform critical decision-making processes and help to reduce toxicity, enhance precision, and improve the overall quality of life for an expanding patient population.
For discovering more about RADprecise project:
https://www.dkfz.de/en/epidemiologie-krebserkrankungen/units/genepi/ge_pr13_RADprecise.html
