According to Dr. Jesús García-Foncillas, director of the department of Oncology of the University Clinic of the University of Navarra, "the molecular study of colon cancer will help to establish more effective treatments with less toxicity". The expert is chairing the X congress of the Spanish association of research on Cancer (ASEICA) 2005, which is being held at the University of Navarra. For its part, the research center in Applied Pharmacobiology (CIFA) is in charge of the technical organization, and Dr. Antonio Monge is the president of the local committee .

The initiative, which combines the efforts being developed at research by the Ministry of Health through the network of Cancer Centers of the high school of Health Carlos III, brings together experts from the main national and international laboratories in this field. Among them, Joan Massagué (award Prince of Asturias 2004) and Robert Maki, from the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York; as well as Robert Johnson, from Spectral Genomics Inc. in Houston.

The congress also focuses on the new lines of research in cancer, aimed at unveiling the factors involved in the development of tumors, the mechanisms that give rise to metastasis or greater aggressiveness, the causes of therapeutic resistance, etc. In the words of Dr. García-Foncillas, "a deep understanding of the tumor process allows us to know the molecular mechanisms on which we must act to reverse the cancerous development ." And, in the next step, new therapeutic strategies based on molecular biology will be sought, as well as chemotherapy, immunotherapy or gene therapy treatments that help to obtain better results in this disease.

Lines of work

The research center Applied Medicine (CIMA) of the University of Navarra and the University Clinic work in a coordinated way in the development of new projects of research in cancer and its application to the clinical internship . One of the most relevant lines focuses on understanding the instructions of development lung cancer. "We are on the way to obtaining very encouraging results on the earliest stages of development the disease. That can open doors for very early diagnosis and, ultimately, for effective treatment," explained Dr. García-Foncillas.

Biological treatments are the new strategy in cancer therapy. Precisely, one of the objectives of the CIMA is aimed at searching for therapeutic targets that are a turning point in the development of colon cancer. The specialist from the University Clinic commented that "being able to identify the aggressiveness of colon cancer considerably changes the perspective of the treatment of this carcinoma, which, together with lung and breast cancer, are the tumors with the highest incidence. We must not forget that the goal of our research is always the patient, which is why our work should always be under the protection of our healthcare work".

Another line of work highlighted by Dr. García-Foncillas is the study of hemato-oncological diseases, such as leukemias and lymphomas. He emphasized that "great emphasis is being placed on the development of therapies that activate the immune system to be able to recognize the tumor disease and fight it".