Biosketch César Serrano

César Serrano

cserrano@vhio.net

Current position

Group Leader of VHIO´s Sarcoma Translational Research Group
Attending Physician, Genitourinary, CNS and Sarcoma Tumors Program, VHIO.
TRIP Clinics External Affiliated Group Leader, Institute for Research in Biomedicine (IRB).

Honors and Memberships

Cancer Core Europe (CCE), Chair of the Rare Tumors Working Group.
Sarcoma Faculty, European Society of Medical Oncology (ESMO).
Board of directors, Spanish Sarcoma Research Group (GEIS).
Spanish Society of Medical Oncology’s (SEOM) Executive Board (2021-2025).

Academic Qualifications

2014: PhD in Medicine, Autonomous University of Barcelona, Spain.
2013: ECCO-AACR-EORTC-ESMO “Flims” Workshop on Methods in Clinical Cancer Research.
2011-2014: postdoctoral student, Jonathan A. Fletcher Laboratory, Brigham and Women’s Hospital / Harvard Medical School, Boston, US.
2011-2014: clinical research investigator, Sarcoma Center, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Boston, US.
2011: Master’s degree in Molecular Oncology. CNIO & European School of Oncology. Madrid, Spain.
2010-2011: Clinical Fellowship, Sarcoma Unit, Vall d’Hebron University Hospital, Barcelona, Spain.
2006-2010: Internship and Residency in Medical Oncology,
1999-2005: Degree in Medicine, University of Salamanca, Spain.

Areas of Research

Identification of critical molecular mediators of oncogenic signaling in sarcomas.
Studying the patterns of CIN in sarcomas together with its role in tumor evolution and progression.
Characterization of mechanisms of response and resistance to targeted therapies in sarcomas, including preclinical modelling and validation of therapeutic strategies for their translation to the clinic.
Phase I to phase III studies for clinical drug development in sarcomas.

Prizes and Scholarships

2022. X ECO Foundation Award on Artificial Intelligence in Oncology to the IMPACTA initiative from the SEOM.
2021: Ramiro Carregal Emerging Talent Award in Oncology.
2014: Ph.D. (summa cum laude). Barcelona Autonomous University, Barcelona, Spain.
2014: SARC Career Development Award.
2013: CTOS Young Investigator Award.
2013: ASCO Young Investigator Award.
2013: ASCO Conquer Cancer Foundation Merit Award.
2011: SEOM Award for Translational Research.
2005: Award for the Outstanding Graduate of the Year, University of Salamanca, Spain.

Projects

Determinantes clínicos y moleculares de respuesta y progresión a la inhibición de KIT en pacientes con tumores del estroma gastrointestinal (GIST) con respuesta prolongada a Imatinib. Grupo Español de Investigación en Sarcomas (GEIS), Sociedad Española de Oncología Médica (SEOM), and Fundación Mari Paz Jiménez Casado.
Modulating our ubiquitination machinery to innovate treatments and drug discovery in cancer. Asociación Española Contra el Cáncer– AECC (Spanish Association against Cancer).
Perfiles de resistencia molecular a la inhibición de KIT/PDGFRA en tumores del estroma gastrointestinal. Asociación Española Contra el Cáncer – AECC (Spanish Association against Cancer).
Centralization of pathological diagnosis and implementation of precision medicine strategies in sarcomas. Asociación Española Contra el Cáncer – AECC (Spanish Association against Cancer).
Genomic determinants of tumor evolution and progression in sarcomas with simple karyotype. CRIS Foundation.
Drivers of chromosome instability in karyotypically simple sarcomas: gastrointestinal stromal tumor as a paradigm. Instituto de Salud Carlos III.
Yin-yang modulation of the ubiquitin-proteasome system to chart and treat RTK-driven neoplasms. TRIP-Clinics program (La Caixa Foundation and Generalitat de Catalunya).

Most relevant scientific publications

Ripretinib versus sunitinib in gastrointestinal stromal tumor: ctDNA biomarker analysis of the phase 3 INTRIGUE trial. Heinrich MC, Jones RL, George S, Gelderblom H, Schöffski P, von Mehren M, Zalcberg JR, Kang YK, Razak AA, Trent J, Attia S, Le Cesne A, Siontis BL, Goldstein D, Boye K, Sanchez C, Steeghs N, Rutkowski P, Druta M, Serrano C, Somaiah N, Chi P, Reichmann W, Sprott K, Achour H, Sherman ML, Ruiz-Soto R, Blay JY, Bauer S. Nat Med. 2024;30:498-506.
KIT ATP-Binding Pocket/Activation Loop Mutations in GI Stromal Tumor: Emerging Mechanisms of Kinase Inhibitor Escape. Mühlenberg T, Falkenhorst J, Schulz T, Fletcher BS, Teuber A, Krzeciesa D, Klooster I, Lundberg M, Wilson L, Lategahn J, von Mehren M, Grunewald S, Tüns AI, Wardelmann E, Sicklick JK, Brahmi M, Serrano C, Schildhaus HU, Sievers S, Treckmann J, Heinrich MC, Raut CP, Ou WB, Marino-Enriquez A, George S, Rauh D, Fletcher JA, Bauer S. J Clin Oncol. 2024;42:1439-1449.
Serrano C, Rothschild S, Villacampa G, Heinrich MC, George S, Blay JY, Sicklick JK, Schwartz GK, Rastogi S, Jones RL, Rutkowski P, Somaiah N, Navarro V, Evans D, Trent JC. Rethinking placebos: embracing synthetic control arms in clinical trials for rare tumors. Nat Med. 2023 Nov;29(11):2689-2692.
Serrano C, Bauer S, Gómez-Peregrina D, Kang YK, Jones RL, Rutkowski P, Mir O, Heinrich MC, Tap WD, Newberry K, Grassian A, Shi H, Bialick S, Schöffski P, Pantaleo MA, von Mehren M, Trent JC, George S. Circulating tumor DNA analysis of the phase III VOYAGER trial: KIT mutational landscape and outcomes in patients with advanced gastrointestinal stromal tumor treated with avapritinib or regorafenib. Ann Oncol. 2023 Jul;34(7):615-625.
García-Valverde A, Rosell J, Sayols S, Gómez-Peregrina D, Pilco-Janeta DF, Olivares-Rivas I, de Álava E, Maurel J, Rubió-Casadevall J, Esteve A, Gut M, Valverde C, Barretina J, Carles J, Demetri GD, Fletcher JA, Arribas J, Serrano C. E3 ubiquitin ligase Atrogin-1 mediates adaptive resistance to KIT-targeted inhibition in gastrointestinal stromal tumor. Oncogene. 2021 Dec;40(48):6614-6626.
Blay JY, Serrano C, Heinrich MC, Zalcberg J, Bauer S, Gelderblom H, Schöffski P, Jones RL, Attia S, D’Amato G, Chi P, Reichardt P, Meade J, Shi K, Ruiz-Soto R, George S, von Mehren M. Ripretinib in patients with advanced gastrointestinal stromal tumours (INVICTUS): a doubleblind, randomised, placebocontrolled, phase 3 trial. Lancet Oncol. 2020 Jul;21(7):923-934.
Heinrich MC, Jones RL, von Mehren M, Schöffski P, Serrano C, Kang YK, Cassier PA, Mir O, Eskens F, Tap WD, Rutkowski P, Chawla SP, Trent J, Tugnait M, Evans EK, Lauz T, Zhou T, Roche M, Wolf BB, Bauer S, George S. Avapritinib in advanced PDGFRA D842V-mutant gastrointestinal stromal tumour (NAVIGATOR): a multicentre, open-label, phase 1 trial. Lancet Oncol. 2020 Jul;21(7):935-946.
Serrano C, Leal A, Kuang Y, Morgan JA, Barysauskas CM, Phallen J, Triplett O, Mariño-Enríquez A, Wagner AJ, Demetri GD, Velculescu VE, Paweletz CP, Fletcher JA, George S. Phase I Study of Rapid Alternation of Sunitinib and Regorafenib for the Treatment of Tyrosine Kinase Inhibitor Refractory Gastrointestinal Stromal Tumors. Clin Cancer Res. 2019 Dec 15;25(24):7287-7293.
Serrano C, Mariño-Enríquez A, Tao DL, Ketzer J, Eilers G, Zhu M, Yu C, Mannan AM, Rubin BP, Demetri GD, Raut CP, Presnell A, McKinley A, Heinrich MC, Czaplinski JT, Sicinska E, Bauer S, George S, Fletcher JA. Complementary activity of tyrosine kinase inhibitors against secondary kit mutations in imatinib-resistant gastrointestinal stromal tumours. Br J Cancer. 2019 Mar;120(6):612-620.
Serrano C, Wang Y, Mariño-Enríquez A, Lee JC, Ravegnini G, Morgan JA, Bertagnolli MM, Beadling C, Demetri GD, Corless CL, Heinrich MC, Fletcher JA. KRAS and KIT Gatekeeper Mutations Confer Polyclonal Primary Imatinib Resistance in GI Stromal Tumors: Relevance of Concomitant Phosphatidylinositol 3-Kinase/AKT Dysregulation. J Clin Oncol. 2015 Aug 1;33(22):e93-6.

All publications

All the publications from César Serrano MD PhD can be found in the following link:

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/collections/50840678/