Genitourinary Cancer
Research group
Group Leader
Josep Lloreta Trull
Prostate cancer is the most common non-cutaneous cancer in men, and urinary bladder cancer is the fourth most common overall in both sexes. In addition to their prevalence, there are specific features of their respective natural histories that make them two of the cancers that generate some of the highest economic costs and they are associated with high morbidity rates, thus both have a significant impact on patients’ quality of life and on health care costs. These are two different models of carcinogenesis, reflecting diverse aspects of cancer biology. Two major pathways with different molecular, pathological and clinical profiles are well known in bladder cancer. A further advance relies on the identification of several specific molecular subclasses similar to those identified in breast cancer. Also in prostate cancer, the relatively unpredictable behavior of the disease appears to be related to different molecular subfamilies, namely, the complex subset of translocation-associated tumors, and the as yet poorly defined miscellaneous group of tumors not related to gene rearrangements. Furthermore, in both tumors, it has been suggested that inflammatory and immunological responses may be involved in their initiation and progression and these are regarded as new avenues for therapeutic intervention. In both tumors, there is a high demand for markers of early diagnosis, follow-up, and response to therapy, as well as for new therapeutic targets and for parameters that allow a more personalized management of patients. Our objectives are to identify genetic signatures that may be involved in the transition from a hypothetical latent phase to a clinically significant phase, as well as markers of progression and advanced disease, in order to better understand the natural history of bladder and prostatic carcinoma and to design adequate treatment strategies for early detection, monitoring, treatment stratification, and follow-up, tailored for the personalized management of each patient.
2017
Members
Joaquim Bellmunt Molins (Researcher)
Lluís Cecchini Rosell (Researcher)
Silvia Hernández Llodrà (Researcher)
Albert Francés Comalat (Researcher)
Lluís Fumadó Ciutat (Researcher)
Marta Guix Arnau (Researcher)
Núria Juanpere Rodero (Researcher)
Gloria Nohales Taurines (Researcher)
Marta Lorenzo Pérez (Technician)
Main Publications
• Bellmunt J, De Wit R, Vaughn DJ, Fradet Y, Lee JL, Fong L, Vogelzang NJ, Climent MA, Petrylak DP, Choueiri TK, Necchi A, Gerritsen W, Gurney H, Quinn DI, Culine S, Sternberg CN, Mai Y, Poehlein CH, Perini RF, Bajorin DF, KEYNOTE-045 Investigators. Pembrolizumab as Second-Line Therapy for Advanced Urothelial Carcinoma. New Engl J Med 2017; 376(11): 1015-1026. IF 72.406. D1.
• Sintes J, Gentile M, Zhang S, Garcia-Carmona Y, Magri G, Cassis L, Segura-Garzón D, Ciociola A, Grasset EK, Bascones S, Comerma L, Pybus M, Lligé D, Puga I, Gutzeit C, He B, DuBois W, Crespo M, Pascual J, Mensa A, Aróstegui JI, Juan M, Yagüe J, Serrano S, Lloreta J, Meffre E, Hahne M, Cunningham-Rundles C, Mock BA, Cerutti A. mTOR intersects antibody-inducing signals from TACI in marginal zone B cells. Nat Commun 2017; 8: 1462. IF 12.124. D1.
• Casadevall D, Kilian AY, Bellmunt J. The prognostic role of epigenetic dysregulation in bladder cancer: A systematic review. Cancer Treat Rev 2017; 61: 82-93. IF 8.589. D1.
• Borque-Fernando Á, Rubio-Briones J, Esteban LM, Collado-Serra A, Pallás-Costa Y, López-González PÁ, Huguet-Pérez J, Sanz-Vélez JI, Gil-Fabra JM, Gómez-Gómez E, Quicios-Dorado C, Fumadó L, Martínez-Breijo S, Soto-Villalba J, on behalf of the PIEM Active Surveillance Study Group. The management of active surveillance in prostate cancer: validation of the Canary Prostate Active Surveillance Study risk calculator with the Spanish Urological Association Registry. Oncotarget 2017; 8(65): 108451-108462. IF 5.168. Q1.
• Hernández-Llodrà S, Juanpere N, de Muga S, Lorenzo M, Gil J, Font A, Agell L, Albero R, Segalés L, Merino J, Serrano L, Fumadó L, Cecchini L, Lloreta J. ERG overexpression plus SLC45A3 (prostein) and PTEN expression loss: Strong association of the triple hit phenotype with an aggressive pathway of prostate cancer progression. Oncotarget 2017; 8(43): 74106-74118. IF 5.168. Q1.
• Capitanio U, Stewart GD, Larcher A, Ouzaid I, Akdogan B, Roscigno M, Marszalek M, Dell'Oglio P, Salagierski M, Volpe A, Mir MC, Kriegmair M, Terrone C, Brookman-May SD, Montorsi F, Klatte T, Kidney Cancer Working Group of the Young Academic Urologists (YAU) Working Party of the European Association of Urology (EAU). European temporal trends in the use of lymph node dissection in patients with renal cancer. Eur J Surg Oncol 2017; 43(11): 2184-2192. IF 3.522. Q1.
• Lloreta J, Font-Tello A, Juanpere N, Frances A, Lorenzo M, Nonell L, de Muga S, Vazquez I, Cecchini L, Hernández-Llodrà S. FOXO1 downregulation is associated with worse outcome in bladder cancer and adds significant prognostic information to p53 overexpression. Hum Pathol 2017; 62: 222-231. IF 3.014. Q1.
Ongoing Research Projects
• Identificación prospectiva de predictores biológicos al tratamiento con inhibidores de PD-1/PD-L1 en cáncer de vejiga avanzado y cáncer de próstata avanzado resistente a la castración
- Fondo de Investigación Sanitaria. ISCIII (PI16/00112)
- From 2017 to 2019
- Principal investigator: Bellmunt Molins, Joaquim
• Validación clínica y mecanismos de acción de las alteraciones moleculares con valor predictivo de progresión en el cáncer de próstata: algoritmo molecular de la carcinogénesis prostática
- Fondo de Investigación Sanitaria. ISCIII (PI15/00452)
- From 2016 to 2018
- Principal investigator: Lloreta Trull, Josep
• Efectos antitumorales de terapias dirigidas con elevada selectividad contra la vía de PI3K-AKTmTOR (Inhibidores TORC1/2 y PI3Ka) en càncer de vejiga. Estudio de marcadores moleculares.
- Fondo de Investigación Sanitaria. ISCIII (PI13/01893)
- From 2014 to 2017
- Principal investigator: Bellmunt Molins, Joaquim
Group’s Recognitions
• Officially recognised as a consolidated research group by the Generalitat de Catalunya: Grup de Recerca en Càncer Urològic (GRECU) (2017-2019)
- Agència de Gestió d’Ajuts Universitaris i de Recerca (SGR 275)
- Principal investigator: Lloreta Trull, Josep
Clinical Trials Signed in 2017
• Estudio piloto fase II randomizado multicéntrico para evaluar la eficacia y seguridad del tratamiento con FOLFIRI-aflibercept comparado con un tratamiento inicial con FOLFIRI-aflibercept (durante 6 ciclos) seguido de mantenimiento con 5FU-aflibercept en pacientes ancianos con cáncer colorrectal metastásico (mCRC) después de fracaso de un régimen con oxaliplatino
- Register: TTD 16-03
- Principal investigator: Guix Arnau, Marta
• Estudio IDENTIFICA. Estudio observacional y transversal para la optimización del diagnóstico de metástasis en fase de CPRCM0 en práctica clínica habitual en España
- Register: JAN-CPR-2017-01
- Principal investigator: Fumadó Ciutat, Lluís
• An Open Label Phase II Study of Tipifarnib in Advanced Non-Hematological Malignancies with HRAS Mutations
- Register: KO-TIP-001
- Principal investigator: Guix Arnau, Marta
• Estudio exploratorio de fase I de ONCOFID-P-B™(PACLITAXEL-ÁCIDO HIALURÓNICO) administrado durante 12 semanas consecutivas seguido de un tratamiento de mantenimiento en pacientes con carcinoma in situ (CIS) de la vejiga que no responden o no toleran el BCG
- Register: R39-17-01
- Principal investigator: Cecchini Rosell, Lluís
Theses
• Hernández A. Antitumor effects of novel targeted therapies (TAK-228 and TAK-117) with high selectivity against PI3K/AKT/mTOR pathway in bladder cancer. Defining molecular markers. Pompeu Fabra University
- Director: Bellmunt Molins, Joaquim; Rovira, A
- Date of defense: 15/12/2017
• Guix M. Mechanisms of acquired resistance to anti-EGFR therapies in squamous cell carcinoma. Pompeu Fabra University
- Director: Albanell, J; Bellmunt Molins, Joaquim
- Date of defense: 19/12/2017
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