On May 1st, Unió Esportiva Avià organized a women’s football tournament to support breast cancer research at VHIO. In this tournament’s second edition, more than €6,000 was raised and donated to the PORTRAIT-TNBC project, as in the first edition.
The PORTRAIT-TNBC project aims to identify which patients with early triple-negative breast cancer (eTNBC) will respond best to a treatment that combines chemotherapy and immunotherapy (pembrolizumab).
What is triple-negative breast cancer?
Triple-negative breast cancer is a specific subtype of breast cancer that accounts for approximately 10-15% of all cases. Although it is less common than other subtypes, it is more aggressive and has a higher likelihood of recurrence in the first few years after treatment.
It is characterised by the absence of the three most common receptors present in other breast cancers: ER, PR and HER2. By not expressing any of these receptors, triple-negative breast cancer does not respond to hormonal therapies or HER2-targeted treatments, making it harder to treat.
Objective: To develop new therapeutic strategies and identify biomarkers to predict response
This study, led by Dr. Mafalda Oliveira and involving Dr. Maria Borrell and Dr. Vittoria Barberi, medical oncologists at Vall d’Hebron University Hospital and researchers from VHIO’s Breast Cancer Group, aims to deepen our knowledge of the biology of breast cancer to develop new therapeutic alternatives and predict the response that patients will have to these treatments. Eleven different VHIO research groups are actively involved in this project, including the Breast Cancer Group.
More than 80 patients with early triple negative breast cancer (eTNBC) are already part of this study.
Predictive value of tumour stromal lymphocytes
Tumour stromal lymphocytes, known as sTIL (stromal Tumour-Infiltrating Lymphocytes), are cells of the immune system found in the tissue surrounding tumour cells, i.e. the “stroma” of the tumour.
In a paper presented recently at the ESMO Breast 2025 congress, the research team has focus on observing the behaviour of these sTILS to see how they react to treatment.
Dr Maria Borrell explains: “The research focused on patients included in the PORTRAIT project and treated with standard chemotherapy before surgery, with or without an additional immunotherapy drug, and showed that those with high levels of sTILS responded better to treatment”.
“These results show that studying the behaviour of sTILS before treatment can help us to know whether a patient will respond well to therapy”, explains Dr Mafalda Oliveira. “The integration of sTILS as an immunological biomarker in the management of patients with early triple-negative breast cancer, together with the other biomarkers under study in the PORTRAIT project, will allow us to move towards a more personalised medicine adapted to each patient, avoiding more aggressive treatments and improving toxicity“.
UNIÓ ESPORTIVA AVIÀ
The Unió Esportiva Avià is the football team of Avià, a municipality in the Berguedà region. For the second consecutive year they have organised a women’s football tournament to raise funds for breast cancer research at the VHIO.
This tournament was attended by around twenty women’s teams from the region and from all over Spain and a total of 200 participants who played for a whole day. Women and girls of different ages and categories participated in solidarity to join forces in favour of breast cancer research.
Thank you, UE Avià, for your involvement and generosity!
