Rentmultimedia visited VHIO’s facilities on May 28th to deliver a check for 20,000 euros for VHIO’s Upper Gastrointestinal and Endocrine Tumors Group.
The purpose of this significant donation is to contribute to further research into gastroesophageal tumors and to develop new therapeutic options in the future for patients.
Gastroesophageal tumors represent one of the most frequent neoplasms worldwide, with about 1.5 million new cases registered in 2022. They are one of the leading causes of cancer mortality, according to GLOBOCAN data.
Currently, in the context of advanced gastroesophageal adenocarcinoma, new biomarkers are being identified. These biomarkers allow a more precise characterization of the tumor and facilitate more effective therapeutic selection.
One of the biomarkers that has emerged in the last 2-3 years is Claudin18.2 (CLDN18.2). In the process of oncogenic transformation, this protein migrates to the cell surface, which makes it a potential molecular target. About 30-40% of patients with advanced gastroesophageal adenocarcinoma have elevated levels of CLDN18.2 protein expression at the tumor level.
IMMUNOCLAUD PROJECT
In this scenario, the drug zolbetuximab, recently approved by the European Medicines Agency, has established itself as a new therapeutic option in combination with chemotherapy. This is for patients with HER2-negative and CLDN18.2-positive gastroesophageal adenocarcinoma.
In parallel, approximately 35% of patients have PD-L1 expression (CPS > 5), which makes them candidates for immunotherapy. However, recent studies have shown significant molecular overlap between different biomarkers in gastroesophageal adenocarcinoma, including CLDN18.2 and PD-L1. This makes it difficult to formulate clinical-therapeutic decisions as there are several treatment options.
However, not all patients respond equally to treatment, so it is essential to develop more precise tools for better therapeutic stratification.
It has been hypothesized that patients with CLDN18.2-positive tumors might show a reduced response to immune checkpoint inhibitors. In this context, the ImmunoCLAUD project aims to further characterize the molecular characteristics of CLDN18.2-positive tumors to predict which patients will benefit from immunotherapy and to establish treatment prioritization or sequencing strategies.
Dr. Eduardo Terán, medical oncologist and member of the Upper Gastrointestinal and Endocrine Tumors Group at VHIO explains:
“The ImmunoCLAUD project aims to perform a comprehensive molecular characterization of CLDN18.2-positive gastroesophageal tumors”.
In this project, artificial intelligence methodologies will be used to validate certain biomarkers at the tumor microenvironment level. In addition, predictive models aimed at optimizing the accurate detection of patients with CLDN18.2-positive gastroesophageal tumors.
He adds: “This tumor characterization is aimed at developing tools to select the most appropriate therapeutic strategy for each patient”.
The results obtained from this research project are intended to be integrated into a support tool. This is to optimize the stratification of patients who are candidates for treatment with immunotherapy or other therapies.
“We would like to thank Rentmultimedia for this fantastic contribution which will allow us to continue working on this project. As a result of the lack of therapeutic options for this type of tumor, we want to continue our research”, adds Dr. Teresa Macarulla.
RENTMULTIMEDIA
The company Rentmultimedia, with offices in Madrid, Lisbon and Barcelona, is dedicated to the rental of audiovisual equipment ranging from sound, image, lighting, IT, stage design and simultaneous translation. It also offers streaming services and creation of audiovisual content and scenography for sets, advertising and events.
