A research team at the CIMA thesis is studying new strategies to combat liver and bile duct cancer

Hepatobiliary cancer, which includes tumors of the liver and bile ducts, is one of the most significant health problems. Hepatocellular carcinoma, the most common form, is the third leading cause of cancer death worldwide, while the five-year survival rate for bile duct cancer is barely over 15%. Furthermore, most patients are diagnosed at advanced stages, when curative options are limited and many tumors do not respond to chemotherapy or immunotherapy.

Carla Rojo González (Haro, 27 years old) holds a bachelor’s degree in Biochemistry and a Ph.D. in Applied Medicine and Biomedicine (2026) from the University of Navarra. Under the supervision of Professor Carmen Berasain and Dr. María Arechederra, her research has focused on finding new ways to treat liver and bile duct cancer using the SLU7 protein as a potential new therapeutic target.

“We have shown that reducing this protein in animal models slows tumor growth and also makes tumor cells more visible to the immune system, which can enhance the effect of immunotherapy,” he explains.

The research has discovered that SLU7’s functions are necessary for maintaining an active quality control system called NMD (nonsense-mediated mRNA decay), a cellular surveillance pathway responsible for eliminating defective mRNAs. “When we reduce SLU7, this system is disrupted, which helps explain both the increased immunogenicity we observe in tumors and other significant changes in tumor cells,” he adds.

Through this work, the doctor aims to translate the findings from laboratory into new therapeutic and diagnostic options for patients. In turn, bile-derived organoids could become a tool for testing treatments, identifying new therapeutic targets, and understanding why some tumors respond to treatment while others do not. “Our goal is to help develop therapies that are more effective and better tailored to the characteristics of each tumor—that is, of each patient,” she emphasizes.

In the future, the research will need to evaluate the safety and toxicity levels in healthy tissues before considering a potential clinical application. In addition, the team aims to expand the use of bile-derived organoids to turn them into a platform for pharmacological and genetic screening. “This will allow for the large-scale testing of therapeutic combinations and enable ‘real-time’ prediction of patients’ responses to different drugs before clinical administration, moving toward true personalized medicine for bile duct cancer,” he concludes.

Bibliographical references

· Rojo C, Vila JJ, Guembe L, Arrubla-Gamboa A, Jusué-Irurita V, Carrascosa-Gil J, Rullan M, Rández-Garbayo J, Fernández-Barrena MG, Huch M, Urman J, Ávila MA, Berasain C, Arechederra M. A guide for establishing patient-derived organoids from bile samples obtained during endoscopic procedures and performing gene expression knockdown. Front Cell Dev Biol. May 29, 2026;14:1812445. doi: 10.3389/fcell.2026.1812445. PMID: 42293754; PMCID: PMC13260716.

· Rojo C, Otero A, Elizalde M, Azkona M, Barbero R, Latasa MU, Uriarte I, Gutierrez-Uzquiza A, Alignani D, Guembe L, Lujambio A, Pastor F, Fernández-Barrena MG, Ávila MA, Arechederra M, Berasain C. Demonstration of SLU7 as a new cancer target. Biomed Pharmacother. Dec 2025;193:118854. doi: 10.1016/j.biopha.2025.118854. Epub Dec 2, 2025. PMID: 41337884.

· Rojo C, Gárate-Rascón M, Recalde M, Álava A, Elizalde M, Azkona M, Aldabe I, Guruceaga E, López-Pascual A, Latasa MU, Sangro B, Fernández-Barrena MG, Ávila MA, Arechederra M, Berasain C. Caspases compromise SLU7 and UPF1 stability and NMD activity during hepatocarcinogenesis. JHEP Rep. May 9, 2024;6(8):101118. doi: 10.1016/j.jhepr.2024.101118. PMID: 39105183; PMCID: PMC11298840.