On the occasion of World Cancer Research Day, the Spanish Association Against Cancer (AECC) awarded its Cancer Research Grants AECC 2018. Eight researchers from Vall d'Hebron Barcelona Hospital Campus were among the recipients of these grants, including two researchers from the Vall d'Hebron Research Institute (VHIR) and six from the Vall d'Hebron Institute of Oncology (VHIO). This year, the AECC has awarded a total of 160 grants with a total amount of 17.6 million euros. The grants were divided into different categories: postdoctoral researcher, researcher, junior clinician, "seed" idea, projects, lab projects, child cancer and rare cancers, coordinated translational groups, coordinated clinical groups, globalisation: ERA-NET (Transcan 2017) and globalisation: accelerator groups. Within the category of AECC Clinical Coordinated Groups, Dr. Antonio Gil-Moreno, head of the Biomedical Research Group in Gynecology at VHIR, participates along with researchers from other centres in a research project on endometrial cancer that has received once again a grant from the AECC. The aim is to characterise the most lethal endometrial cancer group, which presents variation in the number of DNA copies (HCNEC). The project contemplates the identification of this tumour subtype starting from the samples of the tumour banks that were shared by the five groups years ago in order to characterise these tumours and improve their identification techniques. They want to establish orthotrasplants in immunosuppressive mice and isolate circulating tumour cells and circulating tumour DNA, to molecularly characterise these tumours and obtain information, which after their bioinformatic analysis, allows us to identify therapeutic targets and possible drugs to be tested in cell lines, zebrafish and mice. The project also presents two proofs of concept, which will open future perspectives. In one of them, we considered isolating intratumoural lymphocytes in order to explore a possible adoptive cell therapy in the future. The second proof of concept will consist in trying to create a murine model of HCNEC that would allow us to explore treatments, including immunotherapy, in immunocompetent mice. In the AECC Lab Projects category, Dr. Miguel F. Segura, researcher of the Translational Research in Child Cancer and Adolescent Cancer Group at VHIR, has received a grant for his KIF11 analysis project as a new therapeutic target in neuroblastoma. The stated hypothesis is based on the fact that the high levels of a protein (called KIF11) involved in cell division may be contributing to the high proliferative potential of high-risk neuroblastomas and, therefore, the inhibition of their function can be effective in the treatment of these patients. To demonstrate this hypothesis, the project will study the prognostic value of the KIF11 expression and its regulation in neuroblastoma, will analyse the therapeutic potential of a new drug that inhibits the function of KIF11 and will study the molecular response of the kif11 inhibition response in order to have a better knowledge of the patients that can benefit from this drug or those who may develop some type of resistance. In the category of AECC Projects, Dr. Ana Vivancos Prellezo, head of the Cancer Genomics group at VHIO, has received a grant for her colorectal cancer research project. Specifically, the project will focus on whether the quantification of ctDNA and the visualization of tumour irrigation, both analysed by non-invasive and economic techniques, could determine the survival of the patient with MCRC (advanced colorectal cancer), as well as predict the response to anti-angiogenic therapies in these same patients. In the category of AECC Coordinated Translational Groups, Dr. Joan Seoane, Director of Translational Research at VHIO, has received a grant to identify better treatments and develop non-invasive molecular diagnostic methods in brain tumours (glioblastoma and metastasis). The project proposes to study the tumour heterogeneity, the microenvironment of cancer, its metabolism and the immune response to the tumour in order to discover new therapeutic targets and treatments. In addition, it intends to develop new non-invasive methods of molecular diagnosis that will enable tumour characterisation and thus select the optimum treatment for each patient. This work will be carried out with a multidisciplinary consortium that includes Spanish groups specialised in brain tumours. Dra. Marta Crespo Maull, a researcher at VHIO, also received a grant in the AECC Lab Projects category for research in primary lymphoma in the central nervous system (LPSNC), a type of cancer for which 5-year survival is only 30%. A high proportion of LPSNC has specific genetic strategies to avoid being recognised by the immune system, which suggests that if these strategies are avoided, these malignant cells could be very sensitive to immune-based therapies. Recently, it has been described that macrophages, a different immune cell, can also use some of the strategies of immune recognition believed to be exclusive to T cells, like PD1 expression. Research in lung cancer carried out by Dr. Enriqueta Felip, medical oncologist and researcher at the Thoracic Tumors & Head and Neck Cancer Group at VHIO, has been awarded a grant in the Globalization: ERA-NET (TRANSCAN 2017) category. His project aims to identify exosomes or circulating miRNAs that serve as prognosis biomarkers in early phases of this type of tumour. These biomarkers will be very useful in clinical practice for the best management of patients. Dr. Elena élez, medical oncologist and researcher at the Gastrointestinal and Endocrine Tumors Group at VHIO, has also received a grant in this same category for her project on colon cancer. Intra and extra-tumoural heterogeneity negatively affects clinical outcomes of patients through the study of free DNA in blood, so it will be possible not only to diagnose and monitor the disease but also to define a personalised treatment for the patient. In the Globalization: Accelerators category, the consortium for colon cancer research has been awarded a grant. More than 20 researchers, of which we should mention Dr. Josep Tabernero, VHIO's director and head of the Medical Oncology Service at Vall d'Hebron Hospital, participate in this consortium which intends to use preclinical models to identify new therapeutic targets and to validate new drugs in order to achieve a rapid transfer of results to patients.