Finding a way to eliminate breast cancer and its metastasis in the brain

Miguel Castanho

Project awarded in collaboration with the Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnología

  • PROJECT LEADER

    Miguel Castanho

  • HOST ORGANIZATION,
    COUNTRY

    Instituto de Medicina Molecular, Portugal

  • DESCRIPTION

    Cancers that metastasize prefer specific organs to spread. For example, the primary tumour in the most aggressive breast cancer tends to replicate in the brain, which increases its mortality.

    Once in the brain, the tumour is difficult to treat because the organ is protected by the blood-brain barrier that prevents the entrance of drugs. This requires new approaches to overcome this obstacle and eliminate metastasis.

    The project investigates the design of a drug, inspired by antibodies, capable of reaching the breast and brain to avoid resistance to chemotherapy and the presence of stem cells that cause cell division and metastasis.

  • PARTNER ORGANIZATIONS

    • Biodonostia Health Research Institute, Spain

    • Faculdade de Farmácia da Universidade Lisboa, Portugal

    • Asociación Centro de Investigación Cooperativa en Biomateriales - CIC biomaGUNE, Spain

  • PROJECT TITLE

    Protecting the brain from metastatic breast cancer

  • BUDGET

    €632,841