Researcher Roger Gomis receives a grant from the Fundación Fero to study metastatic breast cancer

The Fundación Fero, an organisation devoted to furthering cancer research, with the collaboration of Mango, has awarded ICREA researcher Roger Gomis, head of the Growth Control and Metastasis Laboratory at the Institute for Research in Biomedicine (IRB Barcelona), funding for his project “Identification of the pro-metastatic properties of the fibroblasts derived from MSCs in luminal breast cancer”.

For the 17th Fero Grants in Translational Cancer Research, the foundation has awarded two €80,000-grants, one of which has been given to Gomis’ project, which addresses the development of breast cancer metastasis. 

The grants were presented last night in one of two yearly charity events organised by the foundation in Madrid and, once again, under the auspices of Andbank.

Study of the development of breast cancer metastasis

The research headed by Gomis focuses on luminal breast cancer—one of the most common subtypes of breast cancer—in which metastasis occurs mainly to the bone. This kind of cancer can cause metastasis after many years of remission and can lead to rapid death. 

“In recent years, it has been observed that tumour cells that cause metastasis in this kind of cancer possibly interact with fibroblasts derived from MSCs in the bone. These interactions have effects on the tumour, and they may underlie metastasis relapse and condition the response to systemic therapies,” said the scientist. 

“Our project aims to unravel these interactions, to identify therapeutic targets and to limit the capacity of these cells to cause metastasis,” explained Gomis.