Back to agendaABSTRACT
Speakers: ICREA Research Professors Laura Soucek, from Vall d’Hebron Institut d’Oncologia (VHIO), and Angel Rodriguez Nebreda, from the Institut de Recerca Biomèdica (IRB Barcelona)
When: 27th of October 2020, 18:00h
Where: VIRTUAL FORMAT
Abstract:
Dr. Nebreda and Dr. Soucek will tell us about their challenges and efforts in drugging unconventional targets in cancer:
Dr. Nebreda will focus on p38a, a broadly expressed protein kinase that is activated by many extracellular stimuli and controls multiple cellular responses. Although p38a is not an oncogene, cancer cells often rely on this signaling pathway for proliferation and to survive chemotherapy drugs. In addition, p38a signaling mediates the communication between non-cancer cells of the tumor microenvironment and cancer cells, which contributes to tumor progression. Dr. Nebreda will describe his studies related to p38a functions in different tumor cell types to rationalize the use of p38a inhibitors for cancer therapy.
On the other hand, Dr. Soucek will tell us about MYC, one of the most wanted targets for therapeutic intervention in cancer, having a key role in driving and maintaining most, if not all, human tumors. Despite this indisputable therapeutic opportunity, MYC has long been perceived as “undruggable” for its intrinsically disordered nature and fear of catastrophic side effects in normal tissues. Indeed, to date, there is still no MYC inhibitor in the clinic. Dr. Soucek’s research has recently resulted in the creation of Peptomyc S.L., a spin off company of VHIO and ICREA. Peptomyc will start clinical trials testing a first-in-class MYC inhibitor in cancer patients in early 2021.
