Dr. Lucas Moreno, head of the Pediatric Hematology and Oncology Department at Vall d'Hebron and principal investigator of the Translational Research in Childhood and Adolescent Cancer group at Vall d'Hebron Research Institute (VHIR), has received a grant of 500,000 euros to develop a study in the pediatric oncology field. This grant has been awarded by the Fight Kids Cancer Initiative 2020, the union of three European cancer associations: Imagine for Margo, Kick Cancer and Kriibskrank Kanner Foundation. Childhood cancer is the leading cause of death among patients in this age group and there is currently no long-term cure.

Genomic and biomarker studies for relapsed neuroblastoma

Dr. Moreno's team will lead a European study with researchers from Paris, Lyon, Leeds, Southampton and London focused on characterizing genomic features and developing biomarkers of treatment response for cancer patients with relapsed neuroblastoma, one of the most common and deadly childhood tumors. The BEACON BIO project, funded by the Fight Kids Cancer initiative (European Science Foundation), will analyze samples from the BEACON clinical trial, the largest randomized trial to date to test different chemotherapy treatment options for neuroblastoma.

The study believes that gaining an in-depth understanding of the various tumor types, clonal evolution and adrenergicomesenchymal transition will help identify new therapeutic targets and combinations that address the diverse characteristics unique to neuroblastoma.

"This project will be a great advance for research in relapsed neuroblastoma, allowing advanced genomic characterization, identifying causes of resistance to current treatment, which patients benefit from treatment with targeted therapies and immunotherapy, in addition to the technological development of new markers for relapsed neuroblastoma, which will lead to identifying new drugs or which groups of patients need to receive each treatment regimen," Dr. Moreno notes. "This project is possible thanks to the invaluable help of the three philanthropic foundations created by patient associations that raise funds to fight childhood cancer," he adds.