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Maria de Sousa Prize awarded to research in triple-negative breast cancer

The second edition of the Maria de Sousa Prize was awarded to a research project in the area of ​​triple-negative breast cancer led by Sandra Tavares, from the “Cytoskeletal Regulation & Cancer” group. The prize is worth 30 thousand euros for each winner and includes an internship at an international center of excellence in the area of ​​each of the awarded projects - which in this case the researcher will carry out at the University of Utrecht in the Netherlands.

Promoted by the BIAL Foundation and the Ordem dos Médicos, this award pays tribute to the immunologist Maria de Sousa, a historic professor and researcher at the University of Porto who died in 2020, a victim of Covid-19. The award is intended for Portuguese scientific researchers, aged 35 years or less, with research projects in the field of health sciences
The project “Identification of protein recycling components that control the formation of cancerous metastases” was led by Sandra Tavares and “was designed to help in the fight against triple-negative breast cancer, as it is one of the most aggressive types of breast cancer. As there are no options for targeted therapeutic intervention, the vast majority of patients succumb to metastatic disease”. For these reasons, underlines the researcher “it is urgent to understand the mechanisms that lead to the aggressiveness of this type of cancer in order to solve this health problem”.

In this project, the researcher aims to “identify the proteins that stimulate the protein recycling of triple-negative breast cancer cells and that enhance the invasion of other organs and the development of metastases. To do this, Sandra Tavares will use “a combination of techniques that make it possible to assess how genes and proteins are expressed in the malignant cells of these human tumors, using portions of tumors in the laboratory, the so-called organoids. Because they behave like the original tumors, the organoids pave the way for the identification of a group of proteins responsible for the aggressive behavior of this type of cancer – and for the definition of treatment strategies that allow them to be controlled”.

Currently, in addition to the disease itself, patients also have to deal with the high burden of available therapy, which is still highly toxic and debilitating. With this work, Sandra Tavares will contribute with “knowledge that will serve as the foundation for a strategy of personalization of medicine, promoting a better selection of treatments for the greater benefit of patients, that is, less toxic and debilitating therapies”.