A research, led by Drs. Antonio Gil and Eva Colás from Vall d'Hebron Research Institute (VHIR) and Drs. Xavier Matias-Guiu and Núria Eritja of the Institute of Biomedical Research of Lleida (IRBLleida), has studied the efficacy of ABTL0812, a drug developed by the Catalan pharmaceutical company AbilityPharma, and which is being tested in phase 2 clinical trials in patients with advanced or metastatic endometrium cancer. The study shows that ABTL0812 is an effective and selective therapeutic option for cancer cells, since it only eliminates these and not healthy cells. The study has been published in the journal https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0090825819301507#ab0015 Gynecologic Oncology.Endometrial cancer is the most frequent of the tumors of the female reproductive system. According to the latest statistics, in 2018 the number of new cases diagnosed of this disease worldwide was 382,069, causing more than 89,900 deaths. Unfortunately, mortality rates have increased in recent years. To reliably diagnose endometrial cancer and ensure the best treatment, doctors must accurately determine the cancer subtype, the degree of tumor differentiation and spread. Those tumors that have a non-endometrioid histology, high grade or have spread outside the uterine cavity at the time of diagnosis, do not have a good prognosis at the beginning since the response rate to treatment is low and the therapeutic options are quite limited. This situation strongly reflects the need for new and efficient therapeutic strategies.Researchers from the groups of http://en.vhir.org/web_vhir/portal1/grup-equip.asp?s=recerca&contentid=186717 Biomedical Research in Gynecology of VHIR and Pathology Oncology of IRBLleida, together with others from the Autonomous University of Barcelona (UAB), the University of Lleida (UdL), Ability Pharmaceuticals, the Vall d'Hebron Institute of Oncology (VHIO) and the Bellvitge Biomedical Research Institute (IDIBELL) have studied this new therapeutic strategy in which it has been shown that ABTL0812 is effective as a therapy in the most aggressive types of endometrial cancer, and also prevents premalignant and pretumor lesions progress towards cancer.The study has been carried out in a first phase with in vitro studies, it has been validated in several models in vivo with mice and, currently, a phase 2 clinical trial is being carried out with 40 patients with endometrial cancer in pioneering oncological centers from Spain and France. The results of this clinical study are expected during the autumn of this year 2019."We offer strong preclinical evidence of the therapeutic benefit of ABTL0812 as a first-line treatment of endometrial cancer, either as monotherapy or in combination with standard chemotherapy," the study's researchers explained. "The therapeutic benefit of ABTL0812 also allows stopping the progression of cancer precursor lesions. Our findings present a new and clinically applicable therapeutic strategy for endometrial cancer, especially for those with worse prognosis," they concluded.The research has been financed by three grants from the Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad (MINECO), (EMPLEA / EMP-TU-2015-4576), Fondo Europeo de Desarrollo Regional (ERDF) (RTC-2015-3821, RTC-2017-6261 -1), an aid from the Centro para el Desarrollo de Tecnología Industrial del Ministerio de Ciencia, Innovación y Universidades (CDTI) (INNOGLOBAL / 20171061), as well as two postdoctoral grants from the Generalitat de Catalunya (SLT002 / 16/00315 and SLT002 / 16/00274). Reference article: I. Felip, C.P.Moiola, C.Megino-Luque, et al., https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0090825819301507 Therapeutic potential of the newTRIB3-mediated cell autophagy anticancer drug ABTL0812 in endometrial cancer..., Gynecologic Oncology, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ygyno.2019.03.002