Eva González Suárez will advance towards the development of new inhibitors against breast cancer with a new grant from the European Research Council

Breast cancer is the most common disease among women in the Western world. It causes half a million deaths a year, mainly due to metastasis. Of the 300,000 women diagnosed with this disease each year, 15-20% are affected by triple-negative breast cancer. This subtype is characterized by a high recurrence rate, the propensity to form metastases in the viscera and by its heterogeneity. Although new treatments have been developed, new targeted therapies and associated markers are still needed to increase therapeutic efficacy against the disease.

Eva González Suárez, head of the Transformation and Metastasis Group at the Spanish National Cancer Research Centre (CNIO) has received for the second time an ERC Proof of Concept grant from the European Research Council (ERC) to advance the development of a new targeted therapy against triple negative breast cancer.

An alternative to gold standard treatment

One of the proteins with a key role in this disease is called RANKL. The gold standard treatment targeting this protein is the drug denosumab, but in clinical trials it has shown little benefit in terms of survival.

Gonzalez’s team is developing a proof-of-concept treatment based on new inhibitors against RANKL that may benefit 30% of patients with triple-negative tumors. If efficient, its application to other types of breast cancer and other tumors, as well as to certain bone metastases currently treated with denosumab, could be explored.

Collaboration with other CNIO units

This is the second time that González Suárez has received an ERC Proof of Concept grant, worth €150,000 for 18 months. This type of grant is aimed at researchers who have previously received the prestigious ERC grants and is designed to explore the commercial and social innovation potential of their research.

González Suárez’s team will work on this project with different units of the CNIO Innovation Area, including Sonia Martínez and Carmen Blanco‘s team from the Experimental Therapeutics Program, Giovanna Roncador from the Monoclonal Antibody Unit, and the Technology Transfer Office.

The round of selected projects made public today consists of 134 grants and completes a first round of 111 projects announced in July 2024.

The ERC Proof of Concept to González Suárez is framed in the new European Framework Program for Research and Development Horizon Europe (2021-2027).

Image: Eva González Suárez. / Laura M. Lombardía. CNIO