Lines of Research:

The Pathological Anatomy Service's groups develop lines of research on two complementary levels in the Cancer Research Area: basic and translational (or applied) research, working in coordination in other groups focused on clinical research.


Its goals include, most notably:

Goal 1. The ultimate goal of all Cancer Research groups is twofold: firstly, to help improve prevention and diagnosis of the disease; secondly, to improve patients' cure rates and quality of life.

Goal 2. Basic research in the Cancer Area aims to understand the biological aspects of the disease, identifying molecular alterations involved in tumour genesis and progression that can be potentially reversed, for subsequent use in applied research.

Goal 3. Translational or preclinical research studies biomarkers, identifies new therapeutic targets and tests novel drugs; all carried out in laboratory models using Molecular Pathology, Pharmacodynamic and Pharmacogenetic techniques.

Goal 4. Finally, clinical research focuses on evaluating the effectiveness and safety of novel treatments based on carefully chosen biomarkers, with a view to improving the diagnosis, prevention and treatment of cancer in patients.

The following lines of work are being developed:

  • Identification, functional analysis and validation of prognostic and predictive biomarkers in tumours prevalent in the healthcare setting (breast, colorectal, lung, lymphomas and others).
  • Characterise new therapeutic targets in prevalent tumours from cellular and animal models.
  • Develop new diagnostic and therapeutic tools applied to molecular and systems pathology.
  • Study genetic alterations in solid and haematological tumours.

Relevant publications:

EBV-associated large B-cell lymphoma transformation in marginal zone B-cell lymphoma. A series of four cases.

Camacho Castañeda FI, Dotor A, Manso R, Martín P, Prieto Pareja E, Palomo Esteban T, García Vela JA, Santonja C, Piris MA, Rodríguez Pinilla SM.

Histopathology. 2020 Mar 7.


Advanced-stage mycosis fungoides: role of the signal transducer and activator of transcription 3, nuclear factor-κB and nuclear factor of activated T cells pathways.

Pérez C, Mondéjar R, García-Díaz N, Cereceda L, León A, Montes S, Durán Vian C, Pérez Paredes MG, González-Morán A, Alegre de Miguel V, Sanz Anquela JM, Frias J, Limeres MA, González LM, Martín Dávila F, Beltrán M, Mollejo M, Méndez JR, González MA, González García J, López R, Gómez A, Izquierdo F, Ramos R, Camacho C, Rodriguez-Pinilla SM, Martínez N, Vaqué JP, Ortiz-Romero PL, Piris MA.

Br J Dermatol. 2020 Jan;182(1):147-155.


Immunoglobulin somatic hypermutation has clinical impact in DLBCL and potential implications for immune checkpoint blockade and neoantigen-based immunotherapies.

Xu-Monette ZY, Li J, Xia Y, Crossley B, Bremel RD, Miao Y, Xiao M, Snyder T, Manyam GC, Tan X, Zhang H, Visco C, Tzankov A, Dybkaer K, Bhagat G, Tam W, You H, Hsi ED, van Krieken JH, Huh J, Ponzoni M, Ferreri AJM, Møller MB, Piris MA, Winter JN, Medeiros JT, Xu B, Li Y, Kirsch I, Young KH.

J Immunother Cancer. 2019 Oct 22;7(1):272.


NK Cell Infiltrates and HLA Class I Expression in Primary HER2+ Breast Cancer Predict and Uncouple Pathological Response and Disease-free Survival.

Muntasell A, Rojo F, Servitja S, Rubio-Perez C, Cabo M, Tamborero D, Costa-García M, Martínez-Garcia M, Menéndez S, Vazquez I, Lluch A, Gonzalez-Perez A, Rovira A, López-Botet M, Albanell J.

Clin Cancer Res. 2019 Mar 1;25(5):1535-1545.


Immune Profiling and Quantitative Analysis Decipher the Clinical Role of Immune-Checkpoint Expression in the Tumor Immune Microenvironment of DLBCL.

Xu-Monette ZY, Xiao M, Au Q, Padmanabhan R, Xu B, Hoe N, Rodríguez-Perales S, Torres-Ruiz R, Manyam GC, Visco C, Miao Y, Tan X, Zhang H, Tzankov A, Wang J, Dybkær K, Tam W, You H, Bhagat G, Hsi ED, Ponzoni M, Ferreri AJM, Møller MB, Piris MA, van Krieken JH, Winter JN, Westin JR, Pham LV, Medeiros LJ, Rassidakis GZ, Li Y, Freeman GJ, Young KH.

Cancer Immunol Res. 2019 Apr;7(4):644-657.


PD-1/PD-L1 expression and interaction by automated quantitative immunofluorescent analysis show adverse prognostic impact in patients with diffuse large B-cell lymphoma having T-cell infiltration: a study from the International DLBCL Consortium Program.

Li L, Sun R, Miao Y, Tran T, Adams L, Roscoe N, Xu B, Manyam GC, Tan X, Zhang H, Xiao M, Tzankov A, Visco C, Dybkaer K, Bhagat G, Tam W, Hsi ED, van Krieken JH, You H, Huh J, Ponzoni M, Ferreri AJM, Møller MB, Piris MA, Zhang M, Winter JN, Medeiros LJ, Rassidakis GZ, Vaupel CA, Li Y, Dakappagari N, Xu-Monette ZY, Young KH.

Mod Pathol. 2019 Jun;32(6):741-754.


Targeting stromal remodeling and cancer stem cell plasticity overcomes chemoresistance in triple negative breast cancer.

Cazet AS, Hui MN, Elsworth BL, Wu SZ, Roden D, Chan CL, Skhinas JN, Collot R, Yang J, Harvey K, Johan MZ, Cooper C, Nair R, Herrmann D, McFarland A, Deng N, Ruiz-Borrego M, Rojo F, Trigo JM, Bezares S, Caballero R, Lim E, Timpson P, O'Toole S, Watkins DN, Cox TR, Samuel MS, Martín M, Swarbrick A.

Nat Commun. 2018 Jul 24;9(1):2897.


MSK1 regulates luminal cell differentiation and metastatic dormancy in ER+ breast cancer.

Gawrzak S, Rinaldi L, Gregorio S, Arenas EJ, Salvador F, Urosevic J, Figueras-Puig C, Rojo F, Del Barco Barrantes I, Cejalvo JM, Palafox M, Guiu M, Berenguer-Llergo A, Symeonidi A, Bellmunt A, Kalafatovic D, Arnal-Estapé A, Fernández E, Müllauer B, Groeneveld R, Slobodnyuk K, Stephan-Otto Attolini C, Saura C, Arribas J, Cortes J, Rovira A, Muñoz M, Lluch A, Serra V, Albanell J, Prat A, Nebreda AR, Benitah SA, Gomis RR.

Nat Cell Biol. 2018 Feb;20(2):211-221.


Mutations in the JAK/STAT pathway genes and activation of the pathway, a relevant finding in nodal Peripheral T-cell lymphoma.

Manso R, Sánchez-Beato M, González-Rincón J, Gómez S, Rojo F, Mollejo M, García-Cosio M, Menárguez J, Piris MA, Rodríguez-Pinilla SM.

Br J Haematol. 2018 Nov;183(3):497-501.


Effect of MAF amplification on treatment outcomes with adjuvant zoledronic acid in early breast cancer: a secondary analysis of the international, open-label, randomised, controlled, phase 3 AZURE (BIG 01/04) trial.

Coleman R, Hall A, Albanell J, Hanby A, Bell R, Cameron D, Dodwell D, Marshall H, Jean-Mairet J, Tercero JC, Rojo F, Gregory W, Gomis RR.

Lancet Oncol. 2017 Nov;18(11):1543-1552.


Update on tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes (TILs) in breast cancer, including recommendations to assess TILs in residual disease after neoadjuvant therapy and in carcinoma in situ: A report of the International Immuno-Oncology Biomarker Working Group on Breast Cancer.

Dieci MV, Radosevic-Robin N, Fineberg S, van den Eynden G, Ternes N, Penault-Llorca F, Pruneri G, D'Alfonso TM, Demaria S, Castaneda C, Sanchez J, Badve S, Michiels S, Bossuyt V, Rojo F, Singh B, Nielsen T, Viale G, Kim SR, Hewitt S, Wienert S, Loibl S, Rimm D, Symmans F, Denkert C, Adams S, Loi S, Salgado R; International Immuno-Oncology Biomarker Working Group on Breast Cancer.

Semin Cancer Biol. 2018 Oct;52(Pt 2):16-25.


Defective Cyclin B1 Induction in Trastuzumab-emtansine (T-DM1) Acquired Resistance in HER2-positive Breast Cancer.

Sabbaghi M, Gil-Gómez G, Guardia C, Servitja S, Arpí O, García-Alonso S, Menendez S, Arumi-Uria M, Serrano L, Salido M, Muntasell A, Martínez-García M, Zazo S, Chamizo C, González-Alonso P, Madoz-Gúrpide J, Eroles P, Arribas J, Tusquets I, Lluch A, Pandiella A, Rojo F, Rovira A, Albanell J.

Clin Cancer Res. 2017 Nov 15;23(22):7006-7019.


Teaching:

  • Degree (UAM):
    • 2 subjects (6 and 3 ECTS respectively).
    • Internships Year-6 students, 6 students per month.
  • Postgraduate:
    • Dissertations.
  • Programmed training for residents and fellows.
  • Professional training for technicians: practical training in several vocational training centres in Madrid and Guadalajara.