Research led by the Hospital del Mar Research Institute (Barcelona) and involving researchers from CIMA (University of Navarra) and Pompeu Fabra University (Barcelona) has revealed the existence of microproteins present almost exclusively in hepatocellular carcinoma, the most common form of liver cancer. These structures, which appear to be found in a significant percentage of patients, could be used to develop specific vaccines against this type of tumour. The results are published in the journal Science Advances.
![cancer](/sites/default/files/2024-07/c%C3%A1ncer.jpg)
Ramón Salazar - microproteínas cáncer EN
Ramón Salazar
Head of the Medical Oncology Service at the Catalan Institute of Oncology in l'Hospitalet (ICO)
It is a high quality study that combines all the latest technologies to validate a new concept that can be clinically very relevant. For all these reasons, it has been accepted in a prestigious journal.
Most relevant is the validation that there are areas of the genome of these cancer cells that were thought to be silent but actually code for microproteins, as well as the discovery that these proteins are tumour-specific and can stimulate an immune response. They can therefore be harnessed for the manufacture of generic vaccines on a mass scale, without the need to individualise for each patient, which could be a major breakthrough.
[As for limitations] There is no clinical experience yet. It is a very attractive concept, but one of the problems with hepatocellular carcinoma and other tumours is that they lack the system for presenting proteins to the immune system (the major histocompatibility system), which is necessary for vaccines to be effective.
- Research article
- Peer reviewed
- People
Camarena et al.
- Research article
- Peer reviewed
- People